


And the Oscar Goes To...

by Esselle



Series: Meta AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Hollywood, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up Together, Kinktober 2016, M/M, Meta, Movie Stars, Social Media, rated for last chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-30 22:48:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12118881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esselle/pseuds/Esselle
Summary: ' "I'm here, live at the 109th Academy Awards, where Tobio Kageyama and Shouyou Hinata have just arrived, on the scene—"Online, Twitter is exploding. Tumblr is having a meltdown. Fans who can't attend the event host viewing parties at home or liveblog their reactions as they watch the show. Fandom's darlings have finally made their entrance.They get cornered by the press almost immediately. Shouyou beams and sticks two hands into the air in an attempt to wave at all the cameras at once. Tobio's hands remain stuck firmly in his pockets, but he doesn't shy away from the cameras, either, directing his cool blue stare at all of them and none of them at the same time.'--The road to fame is a long one. There are ups and downs, peaks and valleys, good times and the bad. To Hollywood, they're still outsiders; to the studios—money. To the public, they are idols.But to each other, they are best friends. That's the only billing that matters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ****Written for the Kinktober challenge, day #31: ~~Any combo~~   **All** of the above.
> 
>  _ **An important note regarding Kinktober #31:**_ all the verses/AUs in Kinktober are complete standalones. That goes _double_ for this AU! It does not render any of the ones that came before it... not "real". 
> 
> This fic can be read entirely as a stand alone, but there's an extra level of hilarity that comes from being familiar with some of my other fics, and the rest of the Kinktober series. Each segment is loosely based off of one of these -- they have all been linked in the scene headings.

The red carpet is spotlit from every angle, lined on all sides by throngs of screaming, adoring fans waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite star or starlet. Reporters conduct interviews, actors and actresses in the finest evening wear pose for pictures in front of sponsor backdrops, camera and TV crews mill about the scene like overly large mosquitos looking for their next target to land on—it's a well organized, glamorous scene of chaos.

The event is in full swing. Over the past few years, Hollywood has experienced a major revival, due to the combined factors of new talent, inclusivity, and a return to the creativity and originality that made the golden age of cinema such a revered time in media. A certain annual award ceremony has seen a return to the glory of its former days as well, and ratings are enormously high.

Tonight's main event, as always, will be the big awards presented at the end of the night. But this year, all eyes are on the nominees for the award for Best Actor—two nominees, in particular.

The commotion that starts up when their car pulls up to the red carpet is unparalleled. Interviewers quickly wrap with their current subjects, security is hauled out to keep fans behind the guardrails, camera bulbs start popping at the rate of several flashes per millisecond. A reporter shouts into her microphone,

"I'm here, live at the 109th Academy Awards, where Tobio Kageyama and Shouyou Hinata have just arrived, on the scene—"

Online, Twitter is exploding. Tumblr is having a meltdown. Fans who can't attend the event host viewing parties at home or liveblog their reactions as they watch the show. Fandom's darlings have finally made their entrance.

They get cornered by the press almost immediately. Shouyou beams and sticks two hands into the air in an attempt to wave at all the cameras at once. Tobio's hands remain stuck firmly in his pockets, but he doesn't shy away from the cameras, either, directing his cool blue stare at all of them and none of them at the same time.

One of the reporters asks them where their dates are for the evening, prompting Shouyou to laugh and smack Tobio heartily across the back.

"He's my plus one, tonight," Shouyou says, which finally gets a look of more than just calm detachment out of the other man.

"I'm _your_ plus one?" Tobio asks in his famous low baritone, Estuary accent—there's ten hour long videos of him on YouTube just… speaking. More than one commenter claims to have reached orgasm multiple times just from listening to the audio. "How'd'you figure?"

"Because I asked you to come with me," Shouyou says.

"Yeah, and I took pity on you," Tobio replies. "That makes you _my_ plus one."

Shouyou aims a kick at the back of his knees, which Tobio dodges easily. Someone in the crowd behind them screams, "Notice me senpai!", and Shouyou turns and flashes a peace sign in that general direction. This causes a lot of yelling, so he trots over for some quick pictures and autographs.

In the meantime, Tobio gets asked about what he's wearing. His face pulls down into a vague frown. Shouyou returns to help, leaning into camera frame.

"Valentino," he says, of Tobio's suit. "And I'm in Armani." He smoothes down the lapels of his own jacket and then glances at Tobio with a sly look. "Seriously, I have to learn yours every time because you never remember."

Tobio's eyebrow twitches. "Maybe that's why you always forget your lines, there's not enough space up here for both—" He lands a hand heavily on top of Shouyou's head, and Shouyou shouts at him. Roughly five hundred camera flashes go off.

"Boys, boys," the cable network interviewer says, laughing and trying to rein in the situation at the same time. "Look, before we head inside, I just want to ask you the one question that's on everyone's mind: which one of you is going to take home the Oscar for best actor tonight? Critical answers only, now, no bias…"

Shouyou and Tobio look at him, faces blank. They look at each other. Almost like they're communicating without words, they manage to set each other off with a glance. Shouyou's cheeks puff in indignation, and Tobio's eyebrows shoot downward like they're trying to sculpt themselves around the outline of his trademark bangs.

They turn back to the reporter, jostling each other out of the way as they both attempt to jump at the microphone first. As one, they shout into it,

"ME!"

* * *

[ **Spanking [1]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/23700360)

They met for the first time on the set of the smallest Japanese independent film production in possible history. That might be an exaggeration, but not by much.

Hinata is the newest rookie on set, still entirely unsure of how he landed the role. He has no credits, no agent, and no experience to his name, he just knows he loves to act. So he just keeps trying—audition after audition after audition. He's an extra in everything he can land, he does one commercial that never airs, and finally, after several years of hoping, he lands this gig. He's barely out of high school.

His co-star, he suspects, might actually not have graduated yet. He looks like a baby, even though Hinata knows everyone always says he's got a baby face himself. Kageyama Tobio is the kid's name, and he acts like all this is beneath him.

Their first day on set they're due to film the scene where both the main characters realize they're attracted to each other for the first time, following an embarrassing series of events. He and Kageyama greet each other and the rest of the crew, and Hinata thinks he can determine the slightest hint of a non-native accent when Kageyama speaks. Then they set up for the scene, which is when Hinata starts to become nervous.

See, Kageyama is supposed to be… well… spanking him?

In the script, their characters (two kids on the same volleyball team who don't really get along) have gotten into some sort of competition, prompting Kageyama's character to slap Hinata's across the ass. Hinata is supposed to be really into it, and he can totally do that, it's just…

"Don't I… should I have some kind of… stunt double?" he asks the director nervously as they wait for lighting to sort out some kind of snag with the room.

The director stares at him blankly. "Does this seem like a stunt?"

Red-faced, Hinata shakes his head, and reminds himself that they could have gone with someone else. But they didn't. They cast him. "Nope! Nevermind."

They take their marks and he notices Kageyama shooting him an odd glance, right before they start filming.

"What?" Hinata asks him, trying to sound calm and nonchalant. It comes out more of a snappy demand. Well, he tried.

"Are you really that nervous about this?" Kageyama asks him. Hinata feels like he can detect a hint of skepticism.

"Roll camera!" comes the call on set, to which the DP responds, "Rolling!"

"Ha!" Hinata says to Kageyama. "No! What? Why would I be—I'm not _nervous,_ obviously!" He's not, this is totally fine. "I bet you don't even hit that hard."

Kageyama raises a well shaped brow at him. "Uh-huh. I'm not gonna hold back."

"Fine by me," Hinata retorts.

"Mark," the director calls, and the assistant camera operator holds the slate in front of the camera to designate the scene and take. The _clack_ of the slate signals they're about to begin. Kageyama and Hinata take their places.

"Action!" the director announces, and Hinata faces the bay of lockers, pulling on his character's school shirt, fighting the urge to tense his whole body and—

_WHACK._

Kageyama smacks his ass so hard he nearly smashes his nose into the locker. He lets out a top volume, high pitched shriek and yelps,

"HOLY _CRAP,_ THAT HURT!"

They call cut. That line is most certainly not in the script. Kageyama is laughing behind his hand and Hinata is fairly sure he's going to be fired from his first (and probably only) acting job ever.

They don't fire him, though. They tell him later that the director really liked his "look", and his reaction was basically the one they wanted, if slightly more verbal than the script called for.

In the span of three hours filming the scene, Hinata develops something like Stockholm Syndrome, going from resentful toward Kageyama (why did he have to hit so _hard),_ to furious (the guy probably _did_ get off on this, perverted bastard), to resolute (do it for the art do it for the art do it for the—), to finally a begrudging sense of respect. Kageyama has not relented, yet, and neither has Hinata. Neither of them plans on it.

After about three solid hours of getting his ass quite literally beat, with a good half an hour of that spent faking spank-induced orgasms, whilst being held tightly to Kageyama's chest, it's finally, finally over. Hinata barely feels like moving, but still he packs up and gets ready to head home.

He and Kageyama walk out together. The air between them is silent, but it's weirdly not uncomfortable. Hinata guesses that any awkwardness between them probably faded around the eightieth time Kageyama's hand said hello to his ass.

"Aloe," Kageyama grunts, and Hinata looks at him, confused.

"What?"

"Put aloe on it, lotion or gel, whatever," Kageyama tells him. "It'll help with the soreness."

Hinata squints at him. "Thanks?" Then he considers. "I wouldn't _need it_ if you weren't such a sadist!"

Kageyama slides his gaze over to look at him. "You said ‘fine by me'."

Hinata glares at him. "You're gonna be a nightmare to work with, aren't you?"

Kageyama nods, with zero remorse. "Still… it was kinda fun, wasn't it?"

Hinata thinks about the light from the lamps and the camera on them and the silence on set while they were rolling—while he acted, on a real live film set, and managed not to get kicked out after the first hour. He had the right _look._ He puffs up, beaming.

He can't wait to get back on set.

* * *

[ **Humiliation [5]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/24384213)

Kageyama is by no means new to acting—he's studied at the BADA, and has come back to his birth country to pursue it further, but his pretty features keep landing him in fluff roles he doesn't want to take. This is the first job he's found and taken without his agent's assistance.

As far as Japanese cinema goes, indie films about a couple of gay high school kids befriending each other and falling in love amidst many unfortunate sexual encounters won't pull in the largest numbers in terms of audience or revenue, which is why Hinata suspects he got the job. But it's _an acting job_ so he doesn't care. He's going to act his heart out.

But as he's now learned, much of acting also involves sitting around and waiting, so currently he and Kageyama are on set—crammed into a back row on a bus, as it so happens, as the crew sets up for the scene.

Kageyama has been teaching him English. The other boy grew up in Kent, in the U.K., and both his parents are bilingual as well. Hinata, with dreams of one day making it in Hollywood, has studied English for years, but nothing beats actually trying to converse with a native speaker.

A native speaker who isn't Kageyama may have been preferable. Kageyama makes fun of Hinata's accent, and every time he messes up or can't remember a word, but he's surprisingly patient once he's done laughing. Hinata picks up new things quickly, and after a month on set is able to hold a conversation reasonably well.

As they sit on the bus, they practice.

"Why… did you want to work here?" Hinata asks him, in English.

"Work here?" Kageyama asks.

"On our movie. On _this_ movie," Hinata clarifies.

"I liked the script," Kageyama says. "A lot of it kind of spoke to me as a person, as well as an actor."

"Spoke to…?"

 _"I related to it,_ " Kageyama says in Japanese. _"It made sense._ "

"Ah, ah, okay." Hinata nods, picking up the euphemism. Then he thinks about that. "Why?"

"Quiet on set!" one of the assistants calls, and the chatter dies down.

"Well," Kageyama shrugs and says quietly, "I know a lot about growing up as an awkward gay kid."

Hinata blinks at him.

"Do you… understan—"

"I—!" Hinata says so excitedly he momentarily forgets everything he's learned. "I AM TOO GAY!"

Fortunately for Hinata, most of the crew speaks little to no English. This doesn't stop Kageyama from nearly suffocating as he bursts into laughter. For the next four minutes, he's unable to look at Hinata's red face without suffering a debilitating round of giggles.

"It's okay," he says to Hinata later, lips still twitching. "Sometimes I'm too gay, too."

Hinata groans and elbows him hard in the side, and Kageyama laughs and rests his arm on Hinata's shoulder.

Hinata smiles at the ground. Kageyama is his first co-star, and the first friend he's made on set.

* * *

[ **Bukkake [4]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/24222429)

To their surprise, the little indie film about love in the time of volleyball does incredibly _well_ , especially overseas _._ Not just critically, but monetarily—and while perhaps it's not a household name, it's enough to get them picked up by a larger agency that operates out of both Japan and the U.S. They get a few offers here and there, with most sticking to a similar formula of heartfelt, feel-good romances… though some are a little wilder than others.

Filming a movie set amidst the backdrop of the Japanese porn industry isn't easy. There are a lot of things that are _fairly_ essential to porn that can't be shown even in a relatively underground, R-rated film, and the director is aiming for that for his raunchy comedic vision, which makes things tricky.

Sometimes the magic of film isn't what _is_ shown on camera, but what _isn't._

For instance, the current scene calls for it to appear as though Hinata, while naked, is surrounded by a group of other men, also all naked, all vigorously masturbating onto him. What they can't show: full frontal nudity, or actual semen.

The trickiest part is that Hinata needs to appear to give Kageyama a blowjob in the middle of all this, so the fanciest camera work will need to happen there.

It's a testament to how far they've come as co-stars, onscreen romantic interests, and friends that they barely bat an eye, cracking jokes and trading grins, but getting serious once the cameras start rolling. It's unsurprisingly not the greatest time for everyone, waiting around for their scenes to be over while wearing flesh colored dick hammocks, so speed is greatly appreciated.

Hinata _nearly_ loses it when the grand finale happens—they're using yogurt instead of cum and Kageyama can see Hinata's lips twitching as he fights laughter as they rather gleefully cover him in the viscous stuff.

Then they're done, the director is calling cut, and everyone cheers, but no one louder than Hinata, which gets a huge laugh from the rest of the crew. The behind the scenes camera finds him and Kageyama afterwards as he's cleaning up, and Kageyama casually puts an arm over Hinata's sticky shoulders after being asked whether he'd rather have been in Hinata's place. The joke is that everyone knows Kageyama loves yogurt (and milk).

"I'm incredibly jealous," he says tonelessly.

"Okay, help yourself then," Hinata says immediately as he puts a yogurty hand on Kageyama's cheek. Kageyama retaliates by licking the entire side of his face while Hinata shrieks, and then promptly does the same to him.

 _"Boke!"_ Kageyama shouts. "You're lactose intolerant!"

Hinata's laughing turns to gagging immediately, and they have to stop filming him.

The clip goes viral, not only in Japan, but in the west, as well—in part because it is highly gif-able, and also because Hinata and Kageyama are cute. The film itself becomes a bit of an instant sensation: half sexy wish fulfillment, and half poignant look at the often ignored hearts behind the faces of a taboo industry. It is, most people can agree, not a bad film—in fact, it's a very touching one.

The world is beginning to notice them.

* * *

[ **Creampie [7]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/24570948)

Of course, sometimes, certain factors make it harder to keep a straight face than it would be normally.

"Hinata, I am— _literally—_ begging you," Kageyama says, though he has a feeling it's not working. Hinata's shoulders are still shaking with laughter, even if it's now silent.

They're on the set of their first ever English speaking production together. Kageyama has been in very minor English-speaking roles before but Hinata hasn't, and of course—he's nervous. As a result…  

"I'm sorry—" Hinata wheezes. "I don't know why I can't—stop laugh—" He dissolves again.

Kageyama's lips twitch. "Does it have anything to do with the fact that I have to put my face on your ass?"

Hinata screeches and Kageyama ducks his head to hide his own snort, before looking over to where the crew is waiting to roll and shrugging, helplessly. He's supposed to be getting Hinata back on track but at this point, it's a lost cause.

"Shouyou…" their director calls, rather forlornly. "It's been a little while now—" (It's been over a half hour.) "Maybe a break?"

"Hnnn—I'll be—fine—in a second—" Hinata sputters out, and Kageyama breaks entirely, bowing his head to giggle silently at Hinata's blatant lies.

"Alright, here's an idea," the director says. "Let's just roll camera. Let's get a couple full takes out of the way and hopefully that'll get it out of your system."

"Okay," Hinata says, nearly weeping. "That sounds good."

It's a disaster. It's supposed to be a sexy scene and it is anything but—neither Hinata or Kageyama can stop laughing the entire time, and it only gets worse when it comes time to make use of the scene props, namely, the whipped cream. Just the noise of it being sprayed makes it impossible for Hinata to stop laughing. Kageyama gives up, smashing a handful of the whipped cream into his face at one point.

"Give me a kiss, boys, kiss—" calls the director and Kageyama ducks in for the messiest, sweetest kiss in existence, ending up with whipped cream all over his own face.

When "Cut!" is finally called, Hinata is still laughing. He holds up a hand and tries to apologize again.

"I think we'll be alright," the director says.

Hinata and Kageyama look at him in confusion.

"Do we need to re-shoot?" Kageyama asks.

"No, no… come see for yourselves."

They all crowd around the monitor to watch the playback footage.

"Oh," Hinata says, and then elbows Kageyama in the side, grinning. "Oh, wow!"

On screen, a very cream-covered Kageyama smiles at Hinata as he squirms in his arms after their kiss. Hinata's head is thrown back in pure joy. They look like they are having the time of their lives.

 _A pitch perfect depiction of happiness,_ reads one glowing film review. _A grand testimony that true love can stay, dare I say it, sweet, even years into the making._

* * *

[ **Dirty Talk [2]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/23866323)

With their careers on the rise, it's only a matter of time before the big break hits.

It's barely nine a.m. in London, and Kageyama has yet to finish his morning workout when his phone rings. The caller I.D. simply reads: _Dumbass._ He puts it on Bluetooth.

"You're still awake?" he says. It's only 6 p.m. in Tokyo.

 _"Ha ha,"_ Hinata comes Hinata's voice over the line. _"I just got a_ call."

"What call?" Kageyama asks, bringing his treadmill to a halt.

He can practically hear Hinata vibrating with excitement.

 _"_ The _call!"_ Hinata yelps. _"We're gonna be the next_ Brokeback!"

Before Kageyama can ask what the hell he's talking about, his phone buzzes again—it's Suga, his agent (and arguably, best friend, outside Hinata). "Hang on, Suga's calling."

"Ah!" Hinata yelps. "Tell them you'll do it!"

Kageyama switches calls. "Suga, what's up?" He knows something is up, because Suga would ordinarily not call him during his workout. Kageyama prefers total concentration, zen. Hinata doesn't give a shit about that, though.

 _"Tobio!"_ Suga says excitedly. _"They want to do a cowboy movie!"_

"Is it a gay cowboy movie?" Kageyama asks him.

 _"Of course it is,_ " Suga says. _"But, less emphasis on the gay, more emphasis on the cowboys. Tobio, this could be really, really big for you. Good director, great publicity—they want to work with the buzz from the pie movie, too, there's going to be a romance, so there's definitely going to be people talking about it! I know it's a little more of an action-y role than you want to pursue, but—"_

"Is Hinata in?" Kageyama asks him.

 _"He already called you, didn't he,"_ Suga guesses.

"Yes," Kageyama says. "Tell them they've got their co-stars."

Not five minutes after he's hung up with Suga, Hinata calls him back.

 _"Well?"_ the other man demands.

Kageyama makes a few gun shooting noises with his mouth. "Ride 'em, partner."

Hinata giggles. _"Oh, Kageyama,"_ he says, _"I wish I knew how to quit you."_

Kageyama wrinkles his nose at his phone. "So overused."

 _"Ugh,_ " Hinata says, _"I'm going to be banging you on camera, you could at least_ attempt _to flirt now."_

"That's your attempt at talking dirty?" Kageyama asks. "Weak. I gotta go, I'm not done with cardio yet. Skype in an hour?"

 _"Wait!"_ Hinata yells into the phone. _"You can't quit me_ first—"

"Great," Kageyama says, and hangs up on him.

They do Skype in an hour, and Hinata convinces him to watch _Brokeback Mountain_ together.

* * *

[ **Asphyxiation [9]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11184132)

In terms of projects, the _Speed Demons_ franchise is as exhausting as it is enjoyable. Critics are divided mainly along two lines: one side thinks the now 7-film series is mindless, an orgy of explosions and car noises with little plot and less substance. The other side sees the films as the best Hollywood blockbuster movies have to offer, pure fun without much brainpower required or recommended to enjoy it.

Kageyama and Hinata have heard both sides of the argument. Neither of them pay it any mind—the boys would do these films for free.

They've been playing the roles of the two main characters amongst an ever expanding cast since the franchise's inception, tapped right after their Western film becomes an instant success. The films grow along with their careers, becoming all out summer smashes, with a video game spinoff series, graphic novels, action figures—the whole thing is huge and out of control. So is their fanbase—the studio and press were first baffled at the high volume of adolescent girls and women the films drew in, considering the subject matter. Hinata took to Twitter to suggest it was perhaps because films about cars weren't restricted by gender.

(Kageyama retweets him, but also adds that it might be because quite a few people are waiting for them to kiss. Seven films in and it hasn't happened yet, but that doesn't mean it _won't._ There has been compelling fanfiction written.)

Before all this, though, before the multiple movie deals and the surprisingly decent paperback novel series and the screaming fans, before the first film even went into production, they're each put behind the wheel of a Formula One race car, and told to see for themselves what the rush is all about.

Even years later, Kageyama will still remember that day.

The films are about street racing, so circuit racing isn't entirely an accurate experience. Still—the asphalt is hot and the car feels alive, as he pushes the pedal to the floor and whips around the circuit track.

It steals the breath from his lungs. It's like the excitement of delivering a great line in front of a live audience, hearing them gasp, his own chest constricting in response to theirs. He can't breathe, but it's exhilarating. He wants more.

He gets the same feeling, when he steps out of the car and sees an orange blur, Hinata running toward him with his smile and bright eyes. He collides with Kageyama, babbling a mile a minute about how much fun it was and how he thinks his time was faster and yeah, he's totally in, he wants to do the movie, definitely.

Before anyone celebrates though, they all look to Kageyama, wondering what he'll say. Mindless has never been his thing—he always wants a script with substance, wants to really show off his acting ability. He's suspected that's why the director brought them out here in the first place. Convince one half of the pair and you've cut down on fifty percent of the work.

But Kageyama is having trouble breathing, and he looks at the glow in Hinata's face, how much he wants to sign on, and nods.

"Sure," he says. "Let's see where it takes us."

* * *

[ **Shotgunning [26]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12026994)

After _Speed Demons_ blows up like no one could have anticipated, a whole new world of opportunities presents itself. Suddenly, the phones are ringing nonstop, they have too many scripts to look at, too many choices to make. In the middle of this comes the decision to move to the States to be closer to work, and so Kageyama packs up his once quiet life in England at the same time Hinata says farewell to Japan—their new destination and home a well-known five digit number, 90210, home of the stars.

They share a real estate agent, but not housing tastes, and so Hinata ends up in a condo that he likes because it feels less isolated and imposing, like his place back in Tokyo. Kageyama lives a few blocks away in a (relatively) modest single family home that he chooses specifically because it's got space between him and the neighbors.

It's all a whirlwind, a fast blur, and every once in awhile they both feel the need to hole up, close the shutters on two lives that have become ever more and more public, just a little before either of them was quite ready for it.

Fortunately, there's no place like California when it comes to unwinding.

"Are you—" Hinata tries not to giggle and fails. It's still a nervous habit of his. "You're sure this is fine?"

"Yes, I'm sure, idiot," Kageyama says, as he lights up a bowl—they'd been out in Venice that day and he'd bought it on a whim. Hinata watches intently, feeling very awed. Kageyama always seems to be way cooler than he is at every turn, not that he'd ever tell Kageyama this.

"How do you know how to do this?" Hinata asks him.

"I haven't lived in Tokyo my whole life, that's how," Kageyama responds. "Here, hit this."

It takes him awhile to realize Hinata doesn't know how to "hit" anything, and after that confusion is sorted out, he shows Hinata what to do before passing him the bowl.

"Like this?" Hinata asks, copying him.

Kageyama rubs his nose and nods. "Uh-huh—wait, uh, Hinata—"

Hinata takes an enormous hit. He gets fucking _tanked,_ instantly.

They smoke the whole night and the rest of the evening is essentially snapshots to him. He remembers hugging Kageyama a lot while Kageyama laughs, because it makes Hinata's ribs feel like they're talking.

He remembers saying, "Watch this," and then possibly breaking an expensive pottery set while Kageyama yells, "Hoooolyyyy shiiiiit!" in the background somewhere—for some reason, a lot of his memories of this night have Kageyama wearing sunglasses, even though they're inside, at his house.

He thinks at some point they may end up naked in the pool in the backyard—Kageyama is definitely wearing sunglasses at this point.

He remembers saying, "But _why_ do we have to keep it a secret, Tobio? Why can't we just… be who we _are?"_

"I don't know," Kageyama replies.

"I don't want to anymore," Hinata tells him. "Give me your phone."

"Why _my_ phone?" Kageyama asks him, as he tosses it to Hinata anyway.

"I think mine's in the pool," Hinata says with a shrug.

"Oh."

He wakes up the next morning asleep on the kitchen floor. There's a loud buzzing going off somewhere above his head. Blearily, he sits up and into Kageyama's hand, which lightly smacks him on the nose. He looks up to see that Kageyama is asleep on top of the kitchen counter. His phone is ringing.

Hinata fumbles for it, checks caller I.D. It's Suga. He picks up.

"Hello?" His voice is scratchy.

 _"Hinata!"_ Suga says, sounding relieved. _"Where are you? Is Tobio with you?"_

"Y-yeah?" Hinata clears his throat. "Why?"

 _"They're fine, they're fine,"_ he hears Suga telling someone, hears a voice respond and realizes Yachi (Hinata's manager) must be with him.

"What's going on?" Hinata asks.

 _"Uh, Hinata,"_ Suga says, _"do you remember what you posted on Twitter last night?"_

"No…" Hinata says slowly. He hears rustling from above him—Kageyama is stirring. "Hang on, Suga—"

Hinata stands up so he can shove Kageyama in the shoulder until the other man fully wakes up. He's not sure what exactly they did last night, but he's not going to find out alone, at least.

"Whuh—" Kageyama says, sitting up all at once. Still, sunglasses. Though they are now askew. He tears them off.

"We may have done something," Hinata informs him.

Seven minutes later, they're both clustered around Kageyama's laptop (Hinata's cell phone is, indeed, at the bottom of the pool). Kageyama has his head down on the countertop. Hinata is scrolling through social media.

"Wowww," he breathes. "I had a lot to say."

The situation is this: there is now a picture on Hinata's Twitter of the two of them, high as kites, with the caption "GAY AND PROUD OF IT" across the top, accompanied by a thirty-seven Tweet rant, detailing Hinata's frustration about the double standard of being typecast into playing gay characters, with the idiotic pressure of being constantly advised against announcing that he _is_ gay.

At some point, Kageyama has retweeted the picture, and the entire thirty-seven Tweet manifesto, with the insertion of "same" after each one.

In the hours between Tweeting and waking, Hinata's message has been picked up by every major news outlet, circulated the entire internet, and apparently been turned into silkscreen t-shirts on no less than seven Etsy seller pages thus far.

"Why are you wearing two hats in the picture, though?" Kageyama wonders. This is surely the most pressing question the night has left them with.

Yachi texts Kageyama at around three in the afternoon to tell them The Ellen DeGeneres Show wants them to go on as soon as their schedules allow it. Hinata spends the next three weeks constantly having to remind interviewers that he is bi, and Kageyama spends the next three weeks explaining that he really is very gay, despite people thinking he "doesn't look gay at all!"

"Wait, how gay does everyone think _I_ look?" Hinata asks at one point, to which Kageyama does not miss a beat, and says,

"Extremely."

From that point onward, they become two of entertainment's biggest LGBT icons.  

* * *

[ **Glory Hole [22]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11960778)

"Not that way, idiot!" Kageyama hisses, as he and Hinata dart around a corner. They can hear many feet racing behind them, excited screams.

"Then where—"

Kageyama grabs his arm and yanks him left, slamming through a door into a men's bathroom that seems empty.

"Really?!" Hinata yelps. "There's no way they won't think to check in here!"

He's right, and Kageyama swears in agreement. Then he gets an idea.

"So let them check," he says decisively, and continues to haul Hinata by the elbow, jumping into the first available stall and locking them both inside it, not a moment too soon. They hear the door opening, and whispers, and then Hinata glances at their feet, and Kageyama realizes they have a problem.

If anyone looks—and they will—they'll see two pairs of shoes standing in the stall instead of one.

With almost no time to think about his decision, Kageyama grabs Hinata around the waist and hoists him into the air, feeling grateful when Hinata manages to hold in a gasp (mostly). His small friend grips around Kageyama's waist with his legs and grabs him around the shoulders, and then they both stand there, holding their breath, as a brave group of adventurers comes sneaking into the bathroom for a peek.

Suddenly, a voice tickles hot at Kageyama's ear. "What if they try to look into the stall?" Hinata breathes, nearly inaudible.

Shit. Kageyama can hear their footsteps getting closer. What if they recognize his shoes? There's only one option left to him.

He feels Hinata stiffen in his arms as he lets out the most pained, guttural groan he can manage, a grunt straight from his belly, a strenuous effort. He doesn't stop there, though—he carries on like he's lost his mind, gasping for air at points, dropping a sudden, angry swear in here and there. Anyone outside the stall must be horrified at what sounds like a man trying to excavate an anvil from his lower intestine.

Hinata is _shaking_ , has buried his face into Kageyama's neck to muffle his giggles, and though Kageyama has gotten pretty good at keeping a straight face around him, even he is hard pressed not to burst out laughing. He almost loses it at one point, but manages to turn the laugh into an exclamation of pain at the last moment. Hinata's leg kicks out involuntarily as he struggles not to make a sound, and bangs against the bathroom door, and Kageyama incorporates it into the routine, banging on the side of the stall and uttering up an oath to god to let this pass.

He's pretty sure he's done enough to chase away the mob, but Hinata—Hinata always has to outdo him, take it one step further.

He composes himself long enough, and right as Kageyama is letting out a very long, drawn out moan that _might_ be one of relief—Hinata makes the bubbliest, most disgusting farting noise with his lips that Kageyama has ever heard.

There are finally screeches from outside the door, and then they hear running footsteps, retreating, hurrying for safety. As soon as the door shuts behind them, Hinata flings his head back and laughs so hard he cries. Kageyama joins in, a bit quieter, already out of breath from his performance.

"You're insane," Hinata tells him, leaning forward to headbutt him gently. "I can't believe you, that was so _gross!"_

"I'm not the one who decided to _pass gas_ —" Kageyama says.

"Not actually," Hinata said. "Besides, there's no way it was believable to have some guy trying to push out a log for _that long_ without some kind of resolution to the scene."

"The _scene,"_ Kageyama says, mockingly. "We're such _artists_."

"Ac- _tors_ ," Hinata says, drawing out the syllable with a grin. He closes his eyes, just for a bit, still resting his forehead against Kageyama's. "You didn't have to pick me up even, stupid. I could have stood on the toilet."

That much is true, but Kageyama hadn't had much time to plan. "Why do that when I can demonstrate how much stronger than you I am?"

Hinata snorts. "You're an idiot."

"So are you," Kageyama says. "Whose idea was it to just ‘stop for lunch' at the sandwich place, ‘it'll be fine, no one will recognize us'…"

"I really didn't think they would," Hinata says. "I forget, sometimes…"

"Hmm, little Shouyou, still hasn't woken up to realize the dream is real," Kageyama teases.

"I haven't," Hinata says, blinking his eyes open to look at Kageyama. "Real or not, I'm glad you're always here."

Kageyama fights the very strong urge to kiss his forehead. It wouldn't be the first time he's done it—not the first, or the tenth, or maybe even the hundredth. But there's no cameras around, right now. He slowly sets Hinata back on his feet.

"Here, in general, or here in this bathroom?" he asks.

Hinata socks him in the stomach. Then he says, "The bathroom, obviously. Our own glorious hideout."

"Let's never leave," Kageyama says.

When they finally creep out half an hour later, the coast is clear, and they've spent nearly half an hour seeing who can make the better fart noises (they've decided to ask Suga and Yachi to judge next time they're all together).

Their lives are truly glamorous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My god/mortal fic _Somewhere to Belong_ can be [read here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6373717/chapters/14599135)!
> 
> My street racing fic _Speed Demons_ can be [read here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6704464)!
> 
> All the Kinktober prompts can be found in [this collection](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/kagehinakinktober2016/profile)!


	2. Chapter 2

The 109th Academy Awards brings a truly outstanding crop of films to pick from that year in any category—slowly but surely, however, a candidate for favorite begins to emerge.

 _Somewhere to Belong_ sweeps up Best Original Screenplay, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hair Styling effortlessly. In a slight upset, it loses out on Best Score, but does pick up Best Original Song, a heart-wrenching ballad played during the end credits that has spawned a thousand popular YouTube covers. There isn't a dry eye in the house after it's performed live that evening.

After that, it dominates, winning every category it's up for—Visual Effects, Production Design, Film Editing, Cinematography, and finally, Best Director.

All that's left now are the awards for Best Actress and Actor in a leading role, and Best Picture (where the choice is clear).

Shouyou and Tobio are seated together in the audience, a common focus for reaction shots from the cameras when winners are announced. This wears on Tobio more than anyone may suspect—at least when he's acting, he's aware of where the cameras are, when and how his reactions need to be delivered, what the focus of the scene is. Public appearances are more difficult for him.

Does his face on the enormous monitors look thrilled enough when their film is announced (for something like the hundredth time that night)? Is he laughing at the right spots when the host cracks jokes? Does he look interested, or just bored, when the camera pans over him again?

Sometime into the second hour, he feels something warm press against his own hand. He glances down, to see Shouyou's fingers have found his own.

"Relax," Shouyou murmurs to him, and Tobio feels some of the tension ease from his shoulders, which were starting to hurt. "Your face is fine."

Shouyou hasn't let go of his hand by the end of the evening, and Tobio feels strangely isolated from the crowd with him, watching as the nominees for Best Actress are announced, their pivotal scenes from each film flashing across the screens. Shouyou quietly tries to make guesses on who will win.

And then, suddenly, gold lettering across the white screens spells out tastefully that the time has come to announce the nominees, and the winner, of the Best Actor in a Leading Role.

At the mic, the host announces, "Shouyou Hinata… _Somewhere to Belong._ "

Shouyou's face flickers onto the screen as the lights dim again, and even though everyone in the room knows the film has a happy ending, there's still a little sigh of heartache. It's an iconic scene, now, the one about "falling stars": Shouyou talking to equally tiny co-star Yuu Nishinoya, as tears start to well in his soft, brown eyes, made to look tired by his makeup artists.

Tobio is still struck by how beautiful he is in this film. It's not all makeup and visual effects—something about Shouyou as a person is perfect for this role, tiny sun, bright in his everything. It's very true to life.

 _"Did I make a mistake?"_ Shouyou's voice rings out through the room, a whisper, breaking to a sob. _"Should I have kept him?"_ And he crumbles.

The house lights come up again so the cameras can find him in the audience, which is storming the hall with clapping. Shouyou grins and nods his thanks. Tobio claps with the rest, their sometimes real, sometimes played up animosity forgotten for the moment.

Then: "Tobio Kageyama… _Somewhere to Belong."_

The room goes dark again, and of _course_ it's this scene, Tobio lying distraught at the bottom of a grassy hill, pain etched across his face. The camera is pulled back, high above him, as he beats upon his chest with his fist. _"I don't want this! I—belong—with—_ him!"

He's still proud of this bit of acting, even though it's always a bit embarrassing to watch his own scenes, especially when he's acting alone. But then the lights are coming up and he gives a bashful smile as everyone claps. Shouyou actually _whoops,_ even though they're sitting right next to each other, beaming at him proudly.

 _We're both nominated, dumbass,_ Tobio wants to tell him, but he holds it in.

Neither of them has ever been nominated before. They have come, maybe, close, with some of their more recent films—but then _Somewhere to Belong_ was released, and could not be ignored.

And Tobio, for all his heckling Shouyou over it, is quite positive his co-star is going to take home the golden statuette.

They proceed through the rest of the nominees, and then—everyone hushes, as the host opens up the card. Shouyou's hand squeezes Tobio's.

"And the Oscar goes to…"

* * *

[ **Waxplay [16]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/26749503)

Kageyama has acted on stage, both before and after he and Hinata had met. Conversely, Hinata is entirely unused to it, with his last stage production occurring sometime during high school. Their much heralded stage run of _The Snow Prince_ , therefore, will be his very first time acting on stage post-breakout success, after _Speed Demons_ became such a huge hit.

It's opening night, and he wants to puke.

"Curtain up in five!" calls the stage manager as they walk through the set, and Hinata jumps, visibly. He hopes no one notices, but of course, that's too much to ask of _some_ people.

"Oy, _boke,_ " Kageyama says softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You're going to sweat off all your makeup."

"I barely have to wear any, unlike you, _baka_ ," Hinata says. They still call each other these names affectionately, even several years after settling in the U.S. It's caused one of their many fandom nicknames to surface—B&B. 

"Are you really nervous?" Kageyama asks.

"No…" Hinata says hesitantly. It's not strictly true. His stomach hurts and he's naturally giggly, something that doesn't matter when multiple takes are possible, but it's extremely noticeable on stage if he starts laughing and can't stop. The thought is making his mouth twitch in nervous lines.

"I'll be _right there_ next to you," Kageyama tells him. "Just calm the hell down."

Hinata nods, and does some breathing exercises, and then they have to split up for a little while, before Hinata comes on stage. Then he's on, and there's no time to think. It's surprisingly easy, with the house lights dimmed, trading practiced lines with Kageyama, falling into a rhythm even as they discover new little nuances, responding to the audience's cues.

The majority of the entire performance goes incredibly well, but right as they're nearing the last scenes, suddenly, someone in the audience sneezes. It's a big, wet, loud, blustery sneeze, and then it happens three more times, and Hinata meets Kageyama's eyes and knows he's going to lose his composure, right there—he can feel his ever present inclination to laugh, shoved just below the surface, bubbling up.

Kageyama burns him with candle wax.

His character is a candlemaker, and he seems to be carrying around candles for a majority of the play—they use real candles during actual performances because the fake ones look noticeably cheap, even from far away.

As soon as he sees Hinata's telltale "about to laugh" lip wobble, he tips his candle, and the singe of hot wax on Hinata's hand cuts his urge to laugh immediately. He looks at Kageyama with wide eyes but his co-star just grabs his hand before he can fully react, befitting the romantic scene, and continues on like nothing happened.

"Can you not now be burned, my darling prince?" Kageyama says, projecting across stage, and with barely a lapse, Hinata smiles at him and replies,

"Only in my heart, my dearest love, for there always it burns for you."

Kageyama holds his hand through the entire curtain call, thumb rubbing gently over the (very slightly) reddened mark.

"Sorry," he murmurs, under the storm of cheering, and Hinata finally lets himself laugh.

"I'll live," he says, and Kageyama grins.

* * *

[ **Watersports ??? [29]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12076623)

"Oh, my god," says a girl as Hinata puts his arm around her shoulders to pose for a picture. She's wearing a nametag that reads "Stephanie".

When Hinata smiles for the camera, his two tiny vampire fangs are visible, which has caused a great deal of squealing all night long. "What's 'oh, my god'?!" he asks, grinning.

"She's been in love with you for _forever,_ " her friend says, right as she takes the picture. They have to retake it, because Stephanie buries her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"Maya!" she scolds.

"Everyone here is!"

"You're in love with him?" Kageyama asks, as he strolls over, popping a Reese's peanut butter cup into his mouth. "Gross."

He looks very impressive, in his full, elaborate outfit from their current film about to be released, an epic vampire love story poised to "rival the _Twilight_ films", or so says _Entertainment Weekly_. Kageyama has recently caused a slight stir by remarking on _The Daily Show_ that if it _doesn't_ rival _Twilight,_ he will quit acting, forever. (Pattinson agreed, and sent his blessings.)

That night, they are both attending a Halloween press and charity event to promote the film. One hundred raffle winners (both monetary and blood donors to the Red Cross) were randomly selected for the guest list. In Hinata's opinion, the night has been a tremendous success.

He's wearing his own costume, and collectively, he thinks he and Kageyama have been stopped for more photos than they've ever been at any press junket. But the excitement in the room is infectious, was fun and sweet even before Hinata's first glass of wine. Even Kageyama is having fun, Hinata can tell, and he normally despises Hollywood parties. But this is different. They've both made sizable charity donations as well, but this is another great way to give back.

Plus, their fans are really funny.

"Could we take a picture of you guys?" Maya asks. "Like… um, in character?"

"Yeah, of course!" Hinata gushes. They're so _cute_ , asking to take pictures instead of just mobbing him. "What should we do?"

Both girls giggle behind their hands for an extended period of time, before Stephanie braves the waters enough to say, "Could—could Tobio b-bite… you?"

"Ohhh," Kageyama says knowingly, "in _character._ "

Before Hinata can ask why he sounds so smug, Kageyama grabs him around the waist unexpectedly from behind, pulling Hinata snug against him. Hinata almost spills his drink, but Kageyama wraps his long fingers around his wrist, steadying his hand.

"Don't move," he breathes playfully in Hinata's ear, right before he bites down (gently) on the side of his neck. It's warm and a bit wet, and Hinata has gotten pretty used to the feeling, honestly, the past couple of months, but never in a context like this. It startles him enough that he lets out a small yelp, which just makes him more embarrassed, his cheeks flushing instantly red. And to add to it, everyone in the party now appears to be _watching_ them, cell phones suddenly whipped out, to take pictures or video.

"Tobio!" he says, as Kageyama lets go of him. "Inappropriate!"

"It's not inappropriate, that's half the film," Kageyama says. Hinata isn't sure this logic works. Stephanie and Maya seem to have gone into a state of shock, and he doesn't want to be held responsible.

"I'm gonna draw fanart of this," Maya whispers. She sounds like she has been blessed.

Kageyama tilts his head. "Fanart?"

"Uh—" Maya says, going white. "I meeean…"

"What's 'fanart'?" Kageyama asks, looking to Hinata for clarification.

"How do you not know what _fanart_ is?" Hinata asks him, before he turns back to Maya. "It's like, art people draw of us."

"People want to draw us?" Kageyama asks, sounding surprised.

"Um…" Maya and Stephanie trade glances. "Sometimes?"

"Sometimes" is an understatement, to say the least. They sit on Hinata's couch late that evening after the party, scrolling through Tumblr. Their tag is #kagehina.

"There's so much," Kageyama says, stunned. "You knew about this already? There's so, so—"

"Oh my gosh, this must be _Maya's!"_ Hinata suddenly squeals in excitement, jabbing his finger at the laptop screen. Kageyama bats him away, making a face—he hates when Hinata touches his computer screen.

"Holy shit, that's actually really… really good," Kageyama says. "How did she do this that fast?"

The sketch is just an inked drawing (with a caption underneath reading _Inktober day 29),_ but it's really _cool_ , Hinata thinks, even if he doesn't know what "Inktober" is. It looks like an old black and white film poster, Kageyama the predatory hunter and Hinata his wanton prey.

"It's kinda hot," he says, decisively, and Kageyama snorts.

"You haven't noticed that as a bit of a _running theme_ in any of these?" he asks dryly.

"No, I mean, I have, but—" But there's just something a bit different about it. Hinata is looking at the drawing, but can still almost feel what it was like, to be snatched up like that, bitten. He's getting red again.

Flustered, he scrolls further, and then lands on a full color art, a popular one he thinks he's actually seen before. It's a _really cute one_ of the two of them, and skillful, too—at an angle, like they're taking a selfie. Hinata is looking at the camera, but Kageyama is kissing him on the cheek.

"Aw, Tobio," Hinata says, "it looks like you actually like me in this one."

"You little wanker," Kageyama says, before he proceeds to try and smother Hinata with their blanket. Hinata has no idea when Kageyama steals his phone, but as he's trying to catch his breath post-blanket attack, Kageyama tugs until Hinata falls against his chest and says, "Say cheese."

"What?" Hinata asks, still breathless from laughing, right before Kageyama kisses him on the temple and the camera flash goes off.

"There, you idiot," Kageyama says, tossing him back the phone. "Now you can look at that and remember that I am fond of you, for whatever reason."

Hinata stares at the picture. He is laughing, eyes shut from the unexpectedly bright flash. Kageyama's face is mostly obscured by his hair, but his eyes are crinkled at the corners. He does, in fact, look very fond.

Hinata saves it as his phone background. He also possibly uploads it to his own official Tumblr, tagging the original artist, an odd reverse painting.

"Now _everyone's_ going to have it as their phone background," Kageyama says.

Hinata giggles. "Good."

* * *

[ **Sensory Deprivation [14]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11783778)

Kageyama is tired.

It's been a long, hard day of shooting, starting from early in the morning and continuing on late into the night. They'd been so close to finishing, just a few more takes, when, of all fucking things—the power on set cuts out completely.

Kageyama is pretty sore; he's dead on his feet, he'd like a hot shower and then to pass out for at least six hours before he has to wake up and do it all over again. He'd like for filming to _not_ be delayed by a blown transformer. But he ignores all those irritations the second things go dark, turning toward the last spot where his co-star had been standing last, and sure enough:

"Tobio?" a soft voice calls out. "Where—"

"Right here," Kageyama calls out, even as he starts to pick his way across the set. "Stay there." He nearly trips over something on the floor, catches himself before he breaks his neck, hands outstretched as he blunders in the dark. "Talk—"

"I'm starving," Hinata says suddenly. "I think I'm gonna get like, three of those twenty piece chicken McNugget boxes from McDonald's after this."

"That doesn't sound very healthy," Kageyama says, moving in the direction of his voice.

"No, but that many nuggets really gives you an opportunity to try each of their sauces," Hinata tells him. "Did you know they have nine different types of dipping sauce? Nine."

"Sounds foul, honestly," Kageyama says. "Also, Yachi told me _not_ to let you eat more than twenty chicken nuggets per _week_ —oh, hello—" He cuts off, as he bumps into a small figure in front of him.

A pair of arms comes up to wrap around him immediately. "They're not foul," Hinata says, voice muffled into Tobio's front. "They're delicious, and you are stupid for not liking them."

Hinata does not love the dark. In a city made of bright lights, working in a profession where the spotlight is directed onto him every hour of every day, it's surprisingly easy to avoid.

"We can go get some after this," Kageyama says, caving. He caves right down to the floor, where he sinks, hoping to relax for just a little while. Hinata clambers into his lap uninvited, but Kageyama doesn't stop him. With all the lights out, it's chilly in the large studio, and Hinata's current costume involves mostly nothing. "You're not allowed to be this nervous in the dark, Shouyou, not when you're supposed to be playing a demon yourself."

"Shut up," Hinata says. He sounds exhausted, too. Maybe he's not really scared—maybe he's just sleepy. "You're warm."

"You're heavy," Kageyama says. "Too many chicken nug— _oof—"_ Hinata has very pointy elbows, one of which has just dug into Kageyama's stomach.

Eventually, someone finds a store of flashlights, but it looks like the power won't be back on until the following morning, no matter how loudly the assistant producer shouts down the phone at the DWP. They're eventually told to just head home, to resume in the morning.

Kageyama and Hinata stop at McDonald's first, though.

"Alright, that's three large Chicken McNuggets—" the voice calls over the intercom raspily. "What kind of sauce?"

Kageyama glances at Hinata in the seat next to him, bouncing excitedly.

"All of them," Kageyama sighs. Hinata punches the ceiling of the car in triumph.

* * *

[Daddy [18]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11891436)  **/** [ **Boot Worship [25]**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12008784)

"But do you think it's possible," Kageyama asks, "that you're overreacting?"

"I've never overreacted about anything, ever," Hinata says.

"Do you remember the time you bought all the macaroni and cheese in the store because you ran out the night before?"

"That was preparation," Hinata says. "Not overreaction."

"You just swept the entire shelf into the cart," Kageyama murmurs, remembering. "You still haven't eaten all of it."

"Exactly, I'm still prepared."

"All I'm saying," Kageyama says, "is that maybe you've fixated on this a _little too—"_

"Kageyama!" Hinata says, furiously. He spins in his seat to point an accusing finger at Kageyama's nose. "You just don't understand because you've already got _the boots!_ "

"What is the deal behind _the boots?"_ Kageyama asks. "I don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with them."

Hinata scoffs. "The man in the ivory tower. That's what you are."

"The what—"

"Looking down upon all of us, in our _lesser shoes_."

"Okay, this is mad—"

Hinata pulls up a webpage on his computer, slamming himself back in his rolling chair triumphantly, giving Kageyama a view of the screen. It seems to be… a photo collage, of dozens of pictures, all of Kageyama wearing his costume (and the boots) from the pirate film they're starring in, currently out in theaters.

"Well, I can't deny they're a smart pair of boots," Kageyama says.

"No, you can't!" Hinata shouts. "No one can deny it. Those boots are a masterpiece. They make even the most fashion oblivious among us feel a pang of envy right down in our souls. They are _very_ smart Kageyama, some may say the smartest pair of boots. They're the damn Albert Einstein of boots, alright? Al—Alboot Einstein!" He pauses for breath after this sweeping monologue, breathing heavily, staring at Kageyama.

Kageyama crosses his arms. "Why don't you just _ask_ the costume department—"

"I can't get the _same ones_ as you," Hinata says, looking scandalized. "Come on, can you _imagine?"_

Kageyama can imagine. He can imagine that this would not be nearly as big a deal as Hinata thinks it would—but then again, Hinata's always understood the publicity side of the business better than he has. So for the time being, he ignores the entire boot question. Instead, he focuses on Hinata's bloodshot eyes, and asks, "Did you sleep last night?"

"No," Hinata says mulishly. "Because this is _important."_

"Right," Kageyama says. "You're taking a nap. Right now."

"I can't—"

"And _after_ that, we're going to Rodeo Drive, and I'll _find_ you a pair of boots," Kageyama tells him.

Hinata blinks at him, mouth open. "Really?"

"Yes," Kageyama says. He walks to Hinata's enormous king bed and yanks the covers back. "Get in, shoe peasant."

He spends most of the rest of his afternoon flopped next to Hinata on the bed, surfing outlet stores on his phone as Hinata snores next to him, dead to the world. In the evening, they go shopping.

One week later, they're on an evening talk show, and _the boots_ come up. But now, there's a slight spin on the story.

"So, Shouyou," their host says, "we've got… some pictures to show the audience that we wanted to ask you about…"

"Oh, no," Hinata says, already laughing.

"I think we all know how you feel about _the boots,_ " the man says, and the audience hoots and hollers. "But the other day—take a look at this, everyone—the other day, it seems like you ended up going on a bit of a shopping spree…"

"Okay, okay…" Hinata waves his hands. "I see where this is going."

"Don't interrupt," Kageyama says sternly, which causes a roar of laughter.

"You went on a shopping spree but—" Even the host is laughing now, "—it seems like only _Tobio's_ money got spent?"

"I can explain," Hinata starts to say, but Kageyama cuts him off.

"Yes, so can I," he says blankly, and then has to wait for the laughing to die down again. "Four hours. We spent four hours, looking at boots." More laughter. "I had to do _something,_ or else I was looking at a potential future spent inside of a shoe store for the rest of my life."

"The _lies_ ," Hinata says, though he isn't even making an attempt to hide his grin.

"You're acting… very self-righteous about all this, but yet when I look down, I notice…" their host says, pointing, and Hinata cracks up. "Can we get a close up…?"

The camera zooms in, and there, on Hinata's feet, are a brand new pair of _very_ smart boots. Hinata hikes his pant legs up to put them on proud display.

"Look," Hinata says, over the cheering and clapping. "Sometimes! Sometimes, you've got to show your appreciation when daddy buys you a present…"

 _"What_ did you just—?!" Kageyama explodes, red-faced, as the crowd goes insane. Hinata falls over in the chair, his hands over his face, shoulders shaking.

"And on _that_ note!" the host says, clapping his hands together. "We're gonna take it to a commercial break…"


	3. Chapter 3

**[Shibari [23]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11978820/chapters/27093270) ** **/** [ **Exhibitionism [24]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11978820/chapters/27124290)

Not long after the pirate movie, they take a break from blockbusters for a little while. Kageyama is getting antsy from the endless fight scenes, and even Hinata finds himself leaning towards scripts with more dialogue than action breaks.

In the end, interestingly enough, they both end up gravitating towards a story that is still much more oriented in actions than in words. But it couldn't be any farther from an action movie if they'd tried.

"We're both really excited, actually," Hinata is quoted as saying in a magazine interview. "Shibari is a very old Japanese form of bondage, and there's a lot of history behind it. It felt kind of fitting for both of us to take on this project together."

It's a quiet, beautifully artistic film, minimal cast, small budget, very much a passion project. Even the director is an old friend from their days in Japanese cinema, now trying to break out in the west. There'd been a lot of buzz surrounding the film upon its release, which meant: guest appearances on talk shows.

"So, is it complicated? The tying—you both had to learn, didn't you?"

They're on a morning news segment to promote the film.

"Not very complicated," Kageyama says. At the same time, Hinata puts his head down on the table.

"I feel like Shouyou has a different answer..." says the interviewer.

"It's not complicated," Kageyama says again, bluntly, "he's just bad at it."

"Well, fortunately, we're about to get the opportunity to see for ourselves—"

Hinata groans as a PA comes out with a long length of rope. Kageyama groans too, because he knows who the unwitting victim is going to be.

"Practice makes perfect," the interviewer says, and Kageyama refrains from suggesting _she_ hold still for hours at a time while Hinata attempts to tie him up.

"Kageyama, kneel!" Hinata demands, and Kageyama sighs heavily. Somehow, his morning now involves kneeling on a hard floor, suffering through Hinata's usual flailing attempts to bind him, all on national television. Unsurprisingly, they begin taking potshots at each other.

"Have you paid _any_ attention in any of our lessons, at all?" Kageyama barks at him as Hinata manages to get _both_ their arms stuck through a loop.

"It's not my fault," Hinata wails. "Your arms are too tall!"

"My _arms—"_

"Long! Shut up, _baka!"_

After many attempts and a commercial break, Hinata has finally bound him in some semblance of a pattern, and they're out of time for the segment. Everybody claps, and Hinata flourishes his hands proudly at Kageyama, who bows with his hands awkwardly pulled behind his back.

Later that night, they get pizza at Kageyama's house, and Hinata says, "Hey, let me bind you."

Kageyama licks his fingers clean before wiping them with a napkin. He raises an eyebrow. "Haven't you put me through enough already?"

Hinata grins, rope in hand—they both received them as gifts from the director. "Never."

Kageyama gives in, as usual. He sits on the floor while Hinata loops the rope around him, kneeling behind him to place the knots and secure his hands.

As he works, Kageyama notices he hasn't said "oops" once, or backtracked, and he isn't untying anything like he usually does, when he messes up.

"You do know how to do it," Kageyama says, tone accusing.

"Maybe…" Hinata says softly. "But it's not as fun on talk shows if I'm good at it, right? I've just been practicing a lot on my own."

"Why?" Kageyama asks. They're done filming.

"I don't know," Hinata says. He's finished. "You picked it up so fast. I was jealous."

"You're always jealous of me," Kageyama says.

"Hmm…" Hinata plops forward and drapes his arms over Kageyama, leaning against his back, chin on his shoulder.

Kageyama leans back against him. "Finally admitting it?"

"You wish," Hinata snorts. "I'm the first one of us to actually do this right."

"Are you _sure_ about that?"

Hinata shifts, pushing his nose into Kageyama's hair, where he sighs long and slow. It tickles, even though Kageyama has never been very ticklish. When he speaks, the words buzz against the nape of Kageyama's neck.

"This is the first time it's ever just been between the two of us," he says.

Kageyama closes his eyes. "It never really is anymore, is it?"

Hinata slides his arms to his waist to wrap loosely around him. It feels odd to Kageyama, being held when his arms are restrained. Like he's just surrendering. But when it's Hinata, it's not uncomfortable.

"The price we pay for fame," Hinata jokes, and Kageyama feels warm lips quickly brush the back of his neck. It makes him smile, thinking about how far he's made it with his dumbest, closest friend. "Want me to untie you?"

"Please," Kageyama says. "Or feed me more pizza."

Naturally, Hinata opts for the latter, and the whole experience ends in shouting when he drops an entire slice facedown in Kageyama's lap.

* * *

[ **Double Penetration [21]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11943063)

##  **_SHOCKING! TROUBLE IN PARADISE!_ **

_There's a new challenger in town on the set of the latest KageHina film getting in between the famous duo, and Tobio Kageyama isn't happy about it! Tsutomu Goshiki, currently joining the troublesome twosome as a co-star for their newest risqué romp, has been getting extremely close with everyone's favorite fiery redhead as filming continues into its second month, say sources close to the actors. Our reporters reached out to Goshiki's representatives for comment—while they claimed to have none, the affable star himself was reported as saying that he could "neither confirm nor deny" the claims!_

_While Shouyou and Tsutomu certainly seem to be enjoying their mutually beneficial relationship, Tobio appears to have been left out in the cold. The raven-haired bachelor is notorious for being, if not entirely hard to get along with, at least hard to get to know. Now that Shouyou seems to have found a replacement, what will become of his chemistry with his longtime friend and on-screen partner in crime? Tweet your responses to @CELEBZ and follow us on…_

Hinata looks up from his phone, which he's using to keep occupied while he lounges poolside in the sun working on a tan. Annoyingly, he's always had to work much, much harder at it than Kageyama, who is currently swimming laps in his near olympic sized infinity pool, which looks out over the LA cityscape beyond. He can spend half an afternoon outside and come out the other end of it looking like a gold dusted god. Hinata just burns, or remains pale as a flower petal.

"Hey, have you seen this article?" Hinata calls out to him. "Kageyama!"

Kageyama ignores him until he is done with his lap, before swimming to the side of the pool nearest Hinata and raising his swim goggles. "What?" he asks, rather sourly. He hates being interrupted while he's exercising, and Hinata does not care.

"Did you hear about this?" Hinata asks again. "This stuff about you, me, and… _Goshiki?"_

Kageyama makes a disdainful noise. "The article in _Celebz?"_

"Yes!" Hinata says, and proceeds to cackle. "It's ridiculous!"

Kageyama doesn't respond.

"What, you don't think it's funny?" Hinata asks. Kageyama has always been caught somewhere between bored of and irritated with celebrity gossip, but even he usually manages a good laugh at the complete fabrications some of the tabloids print about the two of them. At one point, they were rumored to have adopted a secret child together, not helped along by Hinata going on record as stating they would make great dads. Even years after that story became old news, he still insists they would be.

Kageyama had laughed pretty hard at that fiasco, but he is certainly not laughing now. Instead, he snaps his goggles back on and pushes off the wall, back into the water, to do another lap.

"Kageyama…" Hinata says, warningly. He rolls off his lounge chair to pad over to the side of the pool, squatting next to it. "Heyyy. Hey, don't ignore me!" He splashes water at Kageyama as he passes by, which doesn't really do anything to affect the other man—Kageyama stops anyway, treading water a few feet away.

"It's a stupid article," he says.

"Yeah, I know that," Hinata agrees. He sits at the edge of the pool and dangles his legs in the water. "You're being weird, though."

"I'm not being weird," Kageyama mumbles, not looking directly at him. "It's just dumb that they would try and make it seem like…"

"Like what?" Hinata asks. Kageyama falls silent again. "Tobio," Hinata says, "you don't feel like what they're saying is true? Right?"

Kageyama sighs and sinks below the surface of the water.

"Oh, no, come on!" Hinata yells at him. He snatches up his phone again, scrolling through the article. When he'd thought the whole thing was a joke, he'd ignored the pictures entirely, but now that he looks through them… Tobio Kageyama does indeed look a bit _unhappy_ , always standing awkwardly off to the side while Hinata and Goshiki chat animatedly about something or other. He looks at the pool again, where a trail of bubbles leads down below the surface of the water, where Kageyama is still sadly submerged.

Hinata kicks his feet in the pool, but when that doesn't do anything to get Kageyama to resurface, he groans, pulls his feet back up and takes a deep breath, before leaning forward to stick his head under the water. Then he yells, loudly, a huge spurt of bubbles erupting from his mouth.

They both pop up at the same time, Hinata spluttering, hair dripping. Kageyama looks much more composed.

"Kageyama, seriously," Hinata says, as Kageyama continues to look supremely grumpy about being caught out. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"What was I _supposed_ to say?" Kageyama asks. "I am _'feeling left out in the cold and very replaced'?"_

Hinata giggles, he can't help it. "What about, 'stop ignoring me, you dumbass'? That seems like something you'd say."

Kageyama swims over to the edge next to him and Hinata folds himself down again, so that they're almost eye level.

"I'm not… going to make you stop talking to someone just because I don't," Kageyama says, irritably.

"Don't what? Talk?" Hinata asks, and Kageyama nods. "Isn't that kinda what I've been doing to you lately? I guess." He wrinkles his nose and looks down at his phone.

"Not really," Kageyama says. "You can talk to him all you want while we're on set. I know I've still got you once the cameras stop rolling."

Hinata opens his mouth to respond, and nothing comes out. Finally he says, "Oh. Well—y-yeah!" His face feels hotter than it has the entire time he's had the sun on it.

"Unless Goshiki is your best friend now, and I just missed that happening."

Hinata blinks slowly at Kageyama before he glares, smacking pool water at him. "Stupid!" Kageyama laughs, raising a hand to defend himself. "You can't be anyone else's best friend," Hinata tells him. "Where else am I going to find a best friend who has hair made out of ravens?"

Kageyama laughs so hard he has to grab onto the side of the pool to steady himself. He lays his cheek on his arms and closes his eyes.

" _'Sources close to the actors'..._ " Kageyama mumbles sleepily as Hinata brushes said raven dark hair out of his eyes, smiling fondly. "That was probably Goshiki."

Hinata bursts out laughing. Within the next few moments, Kageyama ends up grabbing him and dragging him into the pool, meaning his tanning work for the day goes to shit. But, as the afternoon ends in one of the most competitive games of Marco Polo ever played, he finds he really doesn't mind.

* * *

[ **Medical Play [13]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/26386266)

Kageyama hates getting sick. It's not altogether that surprising, but considering Hinata seems to forget, conceptually, that he himself can get sick (he hasn't had a flu shot in years, despite Yachi reminding him nearly every day during flu season), one would think Kageyama would never come near him when he happens to actually fall ill.

This is an inaccurate assumption.

Every time Hinata gets sick—which, to his credit, isn't often—the other man suddenly turns into Kageyama Tobio, M.D. It's like he's got a sixth sense. Hinata wakes up late into the afternoon feeling ill and texts Kageyama (instead of calling, so Kageyama can't hear the telltale croak in his throat) to let him know he's going to skip lunch together that day.

Ten minutes later, he hears the front door banging open (they have copies of each other's keys).

"No…" Hinata groans, the last thing he has time to say before hell befalls him.

"You're sick, aren't you," Kageyama says even before he strides into the room—Hinata can hear him talking in the hallway. "I told you not to come out the other night with your hair wet, not when it's starting to get chilly—"

"We live in Los Angeles, chilly isn't a _thing_ here," Hinata rasps from the bed. He aims to play on Kageyama's fears. "Kageyama, look, I'm really feeling pretty bad so maybe you should head home so you don't catch—"

"Nope," Kageyama says, leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. He means business, apparently. "You can forget about me leaving, because you'll die if I don't take care of you."

Hinata sits up, rubbing at his eyes. "Are you _sure?_ Are you positive that I, a grown man, will _die_ if you don't hover over me like an overprotective grandmother for the next forty-eight hours?"

"Yes," Kageyama says instantly. "Because I've never _not_ done it, and I'm not taking any chances now, not when we start recording next week."

Damn, he's right. They're both due to start voice work on a Dreamworks Animation project the next week, and if Hinata sounds like his voice has just been run through a cheese grater, it'll be no good. He's supposed to be playing a mouse.

He slumps back into the sheets as Kageyama pulls out a pair of rubber gloves and a breathing mask, snapping them all into place with practiced efficiency.

For the next two days, he drowns Hinata in blankets despite Hinata's continued insistences that he's fine (Kageyama calls him a plague bearer). He has ziploc baggies dedicated specifically to tissue removal and disposal, which he handles with a pair of salad tongs.

"What happens when we actually have to use those to make salad?" Hinata asks at one point. Kageyama freezes with the tongs in hand.

"Fuck," he says quietly. Hinata senses Kageyama will be ordering a new pair of salad tongs in the foreseeable future.

Eventually, Hinata's cold symptoms have died away, leaving no trace in their wake but the lingering hoarseness of his voice from the constant coughing, sneezing, and sore throat. That should be gone, however, by the time they start filming.

"Kinda sucks for you, though," Kageyama says, on night number two, huddled up on the couch to watch something on Netflix. He has finally agreed to come within ten feet of Hinata again without wearing protective gear.

"What?" Hinata asks, confused. "Why?"

"You know how you're jealous of that thing I do with my voice?"

Hinata glances at him. Kageyama is watching the TV, but even in the dim lighting, the glow from the movie hopping across his face only every now and again, Hinata thinks he can detect a smile.

"What thing with your voice?"

Kageyama side eyes him, before he turns. He slides one arm across the back of the couch, behind Hinata's head, leans forward, head lowered so when he looks at Hinata it's up through his dark eyelashes.

Hinata knows what he's doing. He's been on the receiving end of this so many times before, but usually, he's making sure he doesn't forget his next line.

Currently, he has no script, and there is nothing he's supposed to say. And so instead he just sits there, frozen, as Kageyama presses warm against him, lips skimming his cheek until they brush his ear.

"This…" the baritone-voiced, British bastard breathes, a low hum, _"thing._ With my voice."

Hinata thinks he could consider this cheating. It's not _just_ the voice, after all, it's everything, the heat of Kageyama, the way he smells, his breaths rising and falling in tandem with Hinata's. To everyone else, it's the _voice_ —and yes, he does have a very nice one—but the reason it affects as much as it does is because their audience feels its effects, through Hinata. They watch Hinata acting—reacting. But he's not just reacting to the voice.

He's reacting to Kageyama.

"What about it?" he says, his own voice sounding shaky, even to his own ears.

Kageyama leans back, and shrugs, completely nonplussed. "I can kind of see what they mean. Yours sounds…"

Hinata just watches him search for words blankly for a moment, before it clicks. "Kageyama, do you think my voice is sexy?"

"Not usually," Kageyama says immediately. "But currently, it has a certain appeal."

Hinata contemplates him. Then, without warning so Kageyama can't put up a fight, he pounces, pushing the taller man down on his back on the couch. Kageyama flounders in surprise, but goes very still when Hinata plants his hands on his chest, scooping his body down until he's laying flat against Kageyama.

In a voice that is decidedly leaning towards a throaty growl, rough and maybe even a little _sultry,_ he murmurs, "Am I doing it right?"

Kageyama's breath hitches. Then he says, "More or less."

Hinata smiles, and then giggles, collapsing solidly down onto Kageyama's chest. "Approved by the expert."

"Oh, do _not_ drop off right here," Kageyama says, already complaining. "You always do this and then I can never wake you up, and you just kick me constantly the entire night."

"Too… tired…" Hinata says, getting comfortable. "Goodnight…"

"You cheeky little shit," Kageyama mumbles, already tugging the blanket over them both.

* * *

[ **Size Difference [6]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11015754)

The special features on the _Hunger_ extended edition eight disc Blu-ray box set are a fan favorite for many reasons. The discs contain nearly four hours of bonus content that primarily revolves around Kageyama and Hinata, along with the rest of the cast, filming, messing around between takes, messing around _during_ takes, giving tours of the set, visiting various locations around New Zealand where filming for the movies took place, along with a host of other behind the scenes footage.

But in between the antics of Hollywood's favorite duo are interviews with the production crew who filmed them, day in and day out, for a full year—and these are worth their weight in pure gold.

Every _Hunger_ fan worth their salt knows the story of the complication with the size difference. Not only are Hinata and Kageyama very different sizes in real life (one of the reasons they were the first two tapped to play the roles, their incredible chemistry notwithstanding), but their heights were exaggerated even more for _Hunger,_ which made certain aspects of filming… tricky, to say the least. A variety of stunt doubles, perspective shots, and special effects were employed to give the illusion of Kageyama's great height versus Hinata's tiny stature.

But then, there were the love scenes.

The famous clip from the special features in question starts with explosive laughter on the part of the camera crew.

"It was almost impossible," the director of photography recalls, trying to regain his composure. "I don't think I've ever filmed one scene with so many cuts. I kept thinking, man, post is gonna hate us."

"It would have been so much easier to use doubles," another man says. "But…"

The clip at this point cuts to a pre-production table read for the second film of the _Hunger_ trilogy. The director says,

"So coming up on our first love scene here, the crew and I think it might be worth seeing what we can get away with using size doubles—"

"What?!" Hinata asks, looking up from his script, eyes wide.

Kageyama simply barks out, "NO."

The director and the DP exchange glances.

"Guys—" the DP says, "the amount of workarounds needed to make your height difference believable in… such close proximity would be… it would be a challenge. To say the least."

Hinata crosses his arms. "We've don't back down from those."

The two men look at Kageyama.

Kageyama takes a sip of his latte and shrugs. "Well, we don't."

"Alright, well, Allen—" the director says, and the DP looks resigned.

"We'll figure something out."

The clip cuts again to the camera crew, who is losing it.

"We got it done, though!" says Allen the DP. "And it looks great."

"Got you an Oscar," one of the other men says, and Allen looks very fond.

"Yeah," he agrees. "I owe those two."

Cut to Kageyama and Hinata, sitting on the interview couch.

"It wasn't _that weird!"_ Hinata protests. "We would have lost all the emotion behind the scene. Right, Kageyama?"

Kageyama, red in the face, nods. "Exactly. Exactly right."

The clip, with the caption _we would have lost all the emotion_ , has racked up over 800,000 notes on Tumblr.

* * *

[ **Edgeplay [10]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11239080)

"Shit, sorry guys—hold that for one second—" the director calls out, and Kageyama and Hinata both freeze.

"Really?!" Hinata yells out, but he's laughing, always a good sport.

Love scenes are oftentimes the worst to set up, due to the amount of careful lighting and positioning, as well as concentration on the part of the actors. Stalling a love scene, therefore, is like some sort of cruel punishment, which nobody should have to endure, but for various reasons are often forced to.

Hinata sits half naked with a prop gun in hand, straddling Kageyama's lap, the beautiful kimono costume piece he's wearing in a state of disarray. Kageyama, already basically naked, presses the back of his hand to his mouth, hiding his grin.

"Yeah, you think this is hilarious, you just have to lie there," Hinata tells him. "I have to _balance_."

Kageyama gives one of his bare thighs a hard smack under the kimono, before gripping it firmly. "It's fine, I've got you."

Hinata wobbles precariously. "No, you _don't!_ Tobio!"

"Just a few minutes, guys, we've just gotta reset for that last scene."

Hinata presses the cold prop against Kageyama's chest, threateningly. "Don't let me fall."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Kageyama reassures him.

"Oh?" Hinata hums, and something in his eyes _sparks._ Kageyama recognizes that look, though it's a newer one, as far as expressions go.

Their current film is much darker than anything else they've been in so far, a Yakuza story, filled to the brim with moral ambiguity, and a fair amount of blood. It's the first time Hinata has ever really played a role like this—barely stable, ultra-violent, and undeniably _smoldering._ He's clearly having the time of his life.

"Just like you weren't dreaming of leaving me?" Hinata murmurs one of his lines in the scene, running the barrel of the prop gun down over Kageyama's bare chest. His hips give a little, grind a little, and Kageyama's eyes widen.

Hinata is keeping the engine warm, trying to make sure they don't lose their momentum between takes. It's nothing new, but then again, this is _quite_ the scene.

"I wouldn't do that," Kageyama says intently, running with it. "Not to you."

"Because you're scared?" Hinata says, leaning down over him. His body shifts, pressing hard against Kageyama, and without meaning to, Kageyama's hands skate up his legs, over his bare thighs. Hinata smiles at him, and Kageyama knows he's goading him, both in the scene and out.

So he flips the script.

"Because I care about you," he says, _not_ a line from the scene. Their characters are too emotionally constipated in the film to ever express their feelings outright. "Have you ever considered that?"

Hinata looks down at him for a long moment. "I know you do," he finally says. "But I don't know if it's in the way I want."

"And what way do you want?" Kageyama asks, as Hinata edges closer, until their faces are very close, his warm, soft lips a breath away from Kageyama's.

"All the ways," he whispers, with a break in his voice that will be fantastic, if he can nail it again in character. And maybe he can, if he manages to roll his hips over Kageyama's _just_ like that, like he's doing now.

If the cameras were rolling, Kageyama would go with his gut, how it's telling him to grab the back of Hinata's head, drag him in for a kiss, slide his hands over the smaller man's body and expose all of him (for raw emotionality in the scene, for the benefit of their fans… they like Hinata's thighs).

But they're not being filmed and so, oddly, he becomes more reserved with no one paying attention to them. Feels awkward, now, because it seems like it would all be for _his_ benefit, and that's not why Hinata is doing this.

Hinata, though, has no qualms about whether he's being watched, or not. He slides the gun, and his hand, lower, ever lower, until suddenly he stops. He pulls back to look at Kageyama, eyes still hot and hard like stone. Imperious. Fuck, they should give him more roles like this one, Kageyama thinks.

"What's… this?" he breathes, a smile curling over his lips.

"What?" Kageyama asks, confused.

"Another gun in your pocket?" Hinata asks. "Or are you that happy to see me?"

Kageyama feels confused for about another half second, before he realizes. Oh, _god._

"Maybe a prop," he offers, but yeah, there's no denying it, he's at half mast. One of the cardinal rules of filming is _don't get a boner during love scenes_ and he's broken it.

He's not sure he can be blamed, though. Hinata is his best friend, but Hinata has also been voted _People_ magazine's Sexiest Man Alive twice in the past five years (so has Kageyama, they're keeping score). It's easy to think about other things when all eyes are on them, but it's hard as fuck when Hinata is doing this just for him.

"A prop?" Hinata asks, with another test grind of his hips. Kageyama swallows a moan. "Feels pretty real to me."

Before Kageyama can respond, the director calls out to them that they're ready to roll again—he feels the heat in his blood leech as all eyes turn to them again, something like being doused in cold water or having his mother walk in on him looking at porn.

Hinata pats his cheek. "You all warmed up?"

Kageyama glares at him. "You're the worst."

"Mm-hm, but you still care about me," Hinata says with a grin.

It's only much later that Kageyama stops to consider his words, the earlier scene deviation.

He glances over to where Hinata is standing looking at some of their takes from that day. Hinata looks over at the exact same moment and sees him watching, smiles like it's exactly the thing he's wanted all along, holds out his hand for Kageyama to join him. Kageyama's heart beats a bit faster, and he smiles before he even realizes he's doing it.

It's like turning a corner.

How long ago did he fall (jump) off into this, this caring about Hinata so much (in all the ways)? All this time, he thought he's been _acting._

He's an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My steamy medieval romance fic _Hunger_ can be [read here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6850228/chapters/15635998)!


	4. Chapter 4

The name called isn't Shouyou Hinata. But it isn't Tobio Kageyama, either.

Neither of them wins Best Actor in a Leading Role. It goes to a veteran, a three time Academy Award winner who would have been the favorite any year but this one. Still a phenomenally strong performance, as always, and Tobio and Shouyou both stand up to applaud him.

As they take their seats again while he gives his acceptance speech, the director of _Somewhere to Belong_ leans forward to whisper between them.

"They couldn't pick," he whispers.

They both turn to look at him out of the corner of their eye. He's an older man, soft-spoken and well-respected, for good reason.

"Can't have two winners for Best Actor," he says, and pats them both on the shoulder, fondly. "They couldn't pick between you."

Shouyou trades glances with Tobio. He is met with an expression that he shouldn't expect to see, but isn't surprised by. Granted, when you know someone inside and out the way he knows Tobio, it's more common not to be surprised, when you're always feeling what they feel.

Tobio doesn't look frustrated, or angry, or even shocked at the decision. Instead, he wears an almost smile.

"And now, the nominees for Best Picture…"

Shouyou should be, maybe, much more disappointed than he is but he's… strangely not. What would have happened if he'd won the award? Nothing, he thinks. He'd have one extra thing to display in his home, that is already too full of things to display (most came with the property).

He's always wanted to act, and so he does. People like watching him. He wanted to be good, because he enjoyed it. And he enjoys it now, more than ever, because he's not alone. He has Tobio.

Ah, come to think of it—one thing might have happened if he'd won. But…

"And the Oscar goes to…" A hushed, building pause. _"Somewhere to Belong._ "

The crowd gets to their feet again in one huge surge, the storm of applause tremendous. The main cast and crew, Shouyou and Tobio included, all trade hugs, before being ushered up onstage.

The director delivers a short speech, but then, very unexpectedly, asks Shouyou and Tobio to say a few words.

Tobio goes first. He thanks the crew, their director, and lastly, turns to the side, to look directly at Shouyou. "Hina—Shouyou." His voice catches a bit and Hinata has to blink, hard, to keep his eyes dry. "You're so much more than a friend, I hope—I want you to know that. I don't know… what the best word is, I'm not that good with them unless they're written out for me—"

This draws a warbly laugh from Shouyou, and a chuckle throughout the crowd.

"Maybe, a partner," Tobio says. "Maybe soulmate. It's a bit something like that."

Tobio nods at him, serious as always, before stepping down from the mic, and Shouyou's heart swells. He knows what he wants to say. He steps up to the mic and clears his throat.

"I'd like to… I'd like to thank everyone who worked on the film, who even made this possible. John, of course—" He nods to the director, who looks vaguely misty-eyed. "And… and Tobio. Tobio, I—"

Shouyou rocks on the balls of his feet, suddenly nauseatingly filled with nerves, more than just stage fright. He stares somewhere out over the heads of the crowd, because it's too much, to look at Tobio right now. He's said the words he's about to say so many, many times before, all while looking right at him but—this is different.

"I know we were supposed to be rivals, tonight, but in the end—I'm just glad I'm here with you. I'm glad it's always you, because—"

He's said these words so many times, and everyone has called it acting. But for a long time now, he hasn't been acting at all.

"Tobio, I'm so… so in love with you. It's so easy to act like I love you, when I already do."

* * *

[ **Public [3]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/24056550)

"—photos of Tobio Kageyama recently surfaced, seemingly catching him with his old flame, successful model-turned-TV-star Tooru Oikawa in the south of Barbados—don't they look like they're having a great time, Cathy?"

On the TV screen, laughter erupts, as the other show host yells, "I'll say so!"

Hinata rolls his eyes and turns off the TV. He should probably be asleep, he has to wake up obscenely early the next day to hit the gym before he's on set. And yet, here he is, staring at his darkened TV screen. After a moment, he picks up his phone, and hits speed dial.

A sleepy voice picks up after two rings. "Hellooo?"

"Yacchan," he whispers. "Sorry, I woke you up?"

"Shouyou…"

He checks the time. Three in the morning. Yeah, he should definitely be in bed. "Sorry, it's not urgent."

"What is it?" Yachi asks, still sleepy, but patient.

Hinata should just hang up, but… "Did you know Tobio is dating Tooru again?"

If anyone will know, it's her. She and Suga talk near constantly about their two highest profile, and most difficult, clients to each other, and don't even try to hide it. They say it keeps them sane.

"Those are tabloid rumors..."

"But he is, isn't he?" Hinata taps his chin thoughtfully. "They've been all friendly on set recently when… you know how they normally are."

They've been filming a new mini series together, a glitzy, high profile show about the glitzy, high profile lives of wealthy businessmen (some of whom don't know how to keep their hands off each other). Oikawa is a recurring guest star.

Normally, Oikawa and Kageyama have some kind of sworn rivalry between the two of them, but thanks to their on again, off again relationship status, they can flip from sexual tension to _actual_ tension and back in a heartbeat.

Hinata snaps his fingers. "It started when Tobio got back from vacation! Barbados!"

Yachi hums, sounding like she's shoved her head into her pillow. "Is it… a problem?"

"Problem?" Hinata asks. "No, no, of course not! I'm totally happy for them."

A long pause on the other line. "Then…?"

"Well, it's just—they're being so _public_ about it! Tobio is like, half-naked in these pictures. Good for them, though, I guess," Hinata says, pulling his knees up to his chest on his sprawling designer couch. "Hey, maybe I should start seeing someone again. Or do you think the bachelor thing is better for my image right now?"

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy, Shouyou," Yachi tells him with a yawn.

"True, true…" Hinata muses. "Well, I'll think about it, too. Goodnight, Yachi!"

She mumbles something into the receiver and the call drops.

Hinata drums his fingers on his knees, before pulling up Twitter on his phone and searching the trending tags. There is some _#oikage_ celebrating going on, but also a whole lot of devastated, capslock screaming, most of it tagged _#kagehina_.

 _my dreams are dead,_ one popular KageHina fan account wails. 757 likes.

Hinata turns off his phone. Their poor fans. He'll _have_ to start dating someone, or they'll think he's unhappy.

Yeah.

* * *

[ **Toys [30]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12093711)

Kageyama looks good in handcuffs.

The problem is, he's not supposed to be _trying_ to look good in handcuffs. The scene they're shooting right now isn't romantic. In fact, the script itself doesn't even have a romance plot—it's a buddy cop-and-criminal movie, entirely comedic. Hinata has been cast in the role of hardened beat cop, with Kageyama as the perp he's been trying to run down, only for them to end up going off the grid together (long story).

They're shooting a scene early in the film where Hinata manages to finally close the gap and put Kageyama in cuffs, which they've got him in now, hands behind his back, hair a mess, a black eye and split lip added in by their makeup team. And he looks _good._

Truthfully, Kageyama looks good in everything, but right now he's in handcuffs, and so that's what Hinata is noticing.

So the whole mulling over, musing about, fixating on Kageyama in handcuffs thing—yeah, that's all Hinata. And Hinata's not quite sure what to make of it.

"Alright, let's do that from the top," says their director, after they've called cut and reset for the scene. "Uh, Shouyou—"

Hinata looks up from where he's being a nuisance to Kageyama—prodding him and teasing him while his hands are restrained and he can't fight back. "Yeah?"

"You're playing it a bit too much like a love scene, that last take, try to…"

"Um, oh!" Hinata says quickly. "S-sorry, I'll—" He's not fast enough.

"Not my fault I'm so sexy," Kageyama says and Hinata whips around to glare at him. He is grinning, evilly.

"You sure you wanna test me when I've got you tied up?" Hinata snaps, and Kageyama raises an eyebrow. "Oh, shut—"

"You sure you don't want me to?" he murmurs, in the _voice_ , so hot it makes Hinata palms sweat. He shoves at Kageyama's head as hard as he can and Kageyama laughs at him.

"Aaaand we're rolling!"

They end up having to do the entire scene twice more, because Kageyama refuses to stop using his Sexy Cues the entire first run through (hooded eyes, licking his lips, shifting in his chair, the works), and Hinata is conditioned to respond to it.

Perhaps too conditioned. He can't stop thinking about how he'd play it if it was a love scene—would he be hesitant or dominant? Dominant, he thinks, especially this character. Especially if he had Kageyama like this, in an uncomfortable desk chair with his hands roughly dragged behind the back. Maybe the scene would call for Hinata to get closer, to lean down with his hands braced on Kageyama's thighs where they're splayed wide open. Maybe he'd speak right in Kageyama's ear when he told him all about how he deserved to get locked up.

"...Hinata?"

Hinata blinks. He realizes just how long he's been staring at his co-star without a word.

"I…" he says, and then clears his throat. "Sorry, forgot my line."

"Shocking," Kageyama says dryly.

Hinata should shoot back a sarcastic reply, as usual, but he just nods, instead.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kageyama asks him after shooting wraps for the day, once they've changed back into their street clothes.

"I'm fine!" Hinata says. "Hey, wanna grab dinner and go back to my place to game for a bit?"

"Yeah, sure," Kageyama says, and Hinata smiles—this is totally normal for them, he was just really into the scene before— "Wait, shit," Kageyama amends. "I can't, I'm meeting Tooru at nine for drinks."

"Oh," Hinata says.

"Tomorrow, though?" Kageyama asks. Instead of extending an offer to join them—which Hinata _wouldn't,_ he doesn't want to be a third wheel or anything.

"Yeah, maybe!" Hinata nods. "Have a good time!" he chirps, and then feels ridiculous, what is he, Kageyama's _mom?_

It's not like he needs Kageyama to have a good time. He'll just make a few calls, grab some friends, go for drinks of his own… a group is way more fun, anyway. Yeah, this plan is sounding good.

Roughly four hours later, he's being released into Kageyama's custody on $500 bail, after being arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace.

Kageyama slaps a pair of enormous sunglasses on him right before they step outside—they have a security detail, but it's Kageyama's arm around his shoulders that comforts Hinata the most, though that's probably because it's keeping him from falling over, more than anything else. The camera flashes sear into his brain and hurt his eyes, and he feels like puking all over again. Kageyama practically shoves him into the back seat of the car, and the noise and light is mercifully cut in half as their driver evacuates the premises.

"So," Kageyama says, and he does _not_ sound amused, or pleased. "You were so jealous of my handcuffs earlier you wanted a pair of your own?"

"Ughhhh," Hinata mumbles in response, laying flat across the back seat of the car, his head in Kageyama's lap. He slides the sunglasses down his nose and looks up at his friend, blearily. "I don't know what happened."

"You went drinking without me, or Yachi," Kageyama informs him. "And then you did what you always do, which is become incredibly loud and obnoxious, and then you run from anyone trying to catch you, including law enforcement, and then you get arrested."

It's possibly not the first time this has happened. Even years after leaving Japan, Hinata doesn't quite grasp the difference on perceptions—and restrictions—of public drunkenness between the two countries.

The last time (still not the first time) he was arrested on the same charges was when Kageyama was back in England shooting a serious docudrama on his own. Alone and best-friend-less in Los Angeles, Hinata had gone a little wild. It'll be all over the newsstands in the morning, again. They'll probably try to make out like he's got a drinking problem.

He groans and squashes his face into Kageyama's stomach. "I'm sorry. Did I, um… did I ruin your evening with Tooru?"

"No," Kageyama says. "We just had drinks and then I went home, unlike certain people I know." He flicks Hinata's forehead and Hinata moans pitifully.

"I thought you'd be spending the night at his place," he says.

"Why would I?" Kageyama asks him.

Hinata squints at him. "Because you're… you two are going out again."

"Are we?" Kageyama asks, sounding amused.

"Yeah, you're…" Hinata sits up, and regrets it immediately when his head throbs horribly. "Wait, are you not?"

"Not?"

"Dating Oikawa!" Hinata shouts at him, and Kageyama finally bursts out laughing.

"No, I'm not," he says. "But I was curious to see how long it would take you to realize."

Hinata's mouth falls open. "Oh, my god. I'm…"

"A terrible friend?" Kageyama offers.

"No, I'm going to kill you!" Hinata says, yanking off his sunglasses to fling them at Kageyama's stupid, laughing face. And then he starts laughing, too, because Kageyama's stupid, laughing face is maybe his favorite.

"We've just been…" Kageyama shrugs. "It's easier, we both agreed. When we're not… acting like utter twats on set all the time. Right?"

Hinata, who tends to get along with everyone, even Oikawa Tooru, when Oikawa is in a good enough mood, nods. "Yeah. But you're not dating."

"No, we're not dating," Kageyama reconfirms.

Hinata slides closer across the car seat, ignoring Kageyama grousing at him to "put on the damned seatbelt". He leans into the other man's side, and Kageyama raises his arm so Hinata can fit under it.

"Thank god," Hinata murmurs.

"Why?" Kageyama asks, with a snort.

Hinata is beginning to suspect that that question has many, many answers. But for now, he says, "Because you two are the _worst_ when you're going out, it's like all the crappy things about you get magnified."

"I will toss you straight from this car," Kageyama says, calling up to the front, "Patrick, slow down for a sec—"

"Suga asked me to make sure you _both_ make it home," replies their driver.

 _"Ha,_ " Hinata says. "Suga loves me, at least."

"If he loves you, then what about the bloke who's come to get your sorry arse out of jail?" Kageyama counters.

And Hinata has absolutely no reply to that.

* * *

[ **Xenophilia [28]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/27319002)

They've known each other over a decade. For the majority of those years, they'd be hard pressed to name anyone else, who fell so easily and thoroughly into the role of a best friend, a partner. And then it becomes less of a role, less like the lines they say on screen, less like the words on a page they turn into actions, and more of a choice. Where nothing is scripted, where the cameras are off, where suddenly they are only themselves, where they are most themselves when they are together.

So what happens, when it all becomes new, somehow unfamiliar? When who they are and how they feel about each other changes?

What happens when they realize it isn't a change at all?

Hinata's chest tightens when Kageyama smiles at him and they are alone.

His heart leaps when he wakes up to Kageyama cooking breakfast in his kitchen in the morning, like they don't both have personal chefs and a strict diet and a set weight they can neither exceed nor undercut. He giggles when they cheat for a day, french toast and butter and powdered sugar, standing and eating over the kitchen countertop, because they're too impatient even to sit down.

His pulse races when Kageyama brushes the sugary mess from the corner of his mouth or his cheek with his thumb, sucking it clean between his lips without even realizing it. No one is there to see it, but them.

Kageyama's stomach gets warm when Hinata holds his hand where the cameras can't see. Hinata doesn't do it for the photo ops, he does it just because he wants to.

He's calmer, less high-strung when Hinata is next to him, near him, whether it's in front of a live audience or sprawled on the floor with a game controller in his hands, shoulders nudging, ankles bumping.

His head fuzzes, more and more, with every kiss, every touch, they share on set. He thinks his (kisses, touches, lingering gazes) are getting hungrier even when he tries to hide it. He's slow to pull away when they call cut. It's not easy for him to hide things, not on camera, and especially not around Hinata.

He replays their scenes in his head at night, like he's always done, but instead of lines it's the exact way Hinata's skin felt under his hands on the fifth take, and the fiftieth, and his fluttering eyelashes, and his eyes squeezed shut grin.

Off camera. On camera. Fast beating hearts and stolen glances.

For them, it's starting to become clear, there is no difference between acting like they are in love and playing no part at all.  

* * *

[ **Latex/Leather [8]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10700355/chapters/24775653)

Dance classes are difficult.

 _Strip_ dance classes are even harder.

Hinata has been taught how to dance, more or less—making acting your career comes with a variety of side efforts no one ever mentions (Kageyama has successfully avoided singing, thus far—Hinata hasn't been quite so lucky), and learning how to dance at some point tends to be one of them. Whether or not it sticks is up to the person. It has not stuck for him.

It appears to have stuck for Kageyama, which is driving Hinata crazy, not least because his character is supposed to be the more experienced of the two in their newest film, which involves a whole lot of stripping and, in at least one scene, a whole lot of leather.

So not only does Hinata have to learn how to dance (better than Kageyama, definitely), but now he's got to attempt it in leather short shorts. Nothing about this situation is going to plan.

"Put your back into it, Shouyou!" Kageyama calls from where he's sitting on the sidelines, having successfully demonstrated he's managed to learn one of the routines they need to know.

"I'm about to—" Distracted, Hinata completely misses the cue for his turn and turns to glare at Kageyama. "I'm going to put my foot up your _ass_ , you—" He flings a nearly empty water bottle at Kageyama's head when Kageyama laughs at him.

"Shouyou, you're really almost getting it," the choreographer tells him.

"No, he isn't," Kageyama says mercilessly.

"If you know _so much better_ ," Hinata says, "then maybe you should come over here and teach it yourself!"

Kageyama tilts his head. "Alright."

He stands up, and—you know what, that's another thing. Hinata has to make do with booty shorts, but Kageyama at least got _pants._ Tight leather ones, maybe, but they're pants all the same.

"So, basically," Kageyama says, positioning himself behind Hinata—they haven't put their parts together yet because of all Hinata's flailing, but it's worth a go. The choreographer has probably given up on Hinata by now, anyway. "You just have to like, get on the balls of your feet and sway—kinda like—no, the _balls_ of your feet, you muppet, not your heels, you're going to fall over—"

"Shut up!" Hinata says, trying to concentrate. "Are you teaching or lecturing?!"

"Those are the same—"

"Shut _up!"_

"Okay, look—" Kageyama says, before he plants his hands on Hinata's waist and drags him back, until they're both pressed against each other. He pushes at Hinata's hip, first one side, then the other. "Back and forth. Like this."

"Oh," Hinata says. This is distracting for different reasons. Kageyama's hands are always warm, but now they're extra warm, from all the dancing. They are very close together. But most importantly… "Hey, I'm…"

"You're getting it," Kageyama says. "Drop your hips."

Hinata tries to do whatever that implies, and then even their choreographer whistles. "That's more like it," she calls out.

Hinata grins a bit and sways a bit, and Kageyama says, "Roll back," and does this strange, body waving roll, up from his knees through his hips and stomach, like a curvy S—Hinata hates to admit it, but maybe Kageyama got the dancing thing down faster because he's just not a bad dancer.

But when he's guiding Hinata's movements as closely as he is right now, it kind of makes Hinata not a bad dancer, either.

"Ooh, we're sexy," Hinata says, delightedly.

"No, I'm sexy," Kageyama corrects him, "you're a disaster."

"I'm gonna tweet that," Hinata tells him.

"Don't you fucking dare."

Hinata tries an experimental hip grind backwards (because they will be doing a lot of those on camera), and Kageyama jerks, caught off guard—and the worst squeaking noise Hinata has ever heard erupts, from around where their lower regions are connected.

They both stop and stare at each other, wide-eyed.

"Was that—" Kageyama starts to say.

"The leather!" Hinata squeaks, before he starts howling with laughter. "Oh my god, it sounds like a gremlin farting!"

"It sounded like one of yours," Kageyama says, smirking. Hinata elbows him. "Shit, do you think anyone else has thought of that?"

"Ohh," Hinata says, a grin spreading over his features. "I can't wait to see everyone's faces during the lap dance scene."

"It'll ruin it," Kageyama says, though he looks amused by the thought, as well.

Hinata waves his hand. "They can edit it out!"

Just a few days later, Hinata gets a round of applause after knocking the lap dance out of the park. Nothing is more worth it than the look on Kageyama's face when he does, though, red and stunned and a little bit proud—it's a look that gets captured on camera for the world to see several months down the line when their blockbuster romantic comedy about the life of an aspiring young stripper gets released to rave reviews, calling it the "biggest guilty pleasure of the season".

Hinata has to agree. He knows all about guilty pleasures, after that lap dance.

* * *

[ **Blood/Gore [17]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11848788)

By far, the most trouble Kageyama and Hinata ever have on set is filming their zombie horror action dramedy (it's… a multi-genre work). The entire production seems to be plagued by bad luck from the very start, they find out midway through shooting that the crew is being overworked, and they've been growing less fond of the director (a high profile big shot with nearly thirty critically and commercially successful films under his belt) by the day. Still, they're under contract, and as they've said before—they've never backed down from a challenge.

It's nearing the end of the shoot, on one of the last days of principal photography, when things go very wrong.

They're shooting a tense chase scene in a parking garage. Kageyama has mostly running work, so he's not using a stunt double. There are some pyrotechnics involved in the scene, but nothing major, and they've been timed and choreographed. That, at least, is what they've been told.

Kageyama sprints through the sprawling set, a camera dolly following him on one long, smooth shot up the sloping corridor through the impressive set pieces, husked out cars and crumbling concrete. He's waiting for a cue, shouted by a crew member, to signal an explosion being detonated. And then it happens.

One of the cars actually explodes without warning.

It's not an enormous, fiery explosion, but it lets off a lot of smoke and a startling _bang,_ and metal shards fly off it like bullets from a gun.

And Kageyama is right next to it when it happens. Something heavy hits him hard in the side of the head and his vision swims—he doesn't even realize he's fallen to the pavement until he's lying on it. His face feels warm on one side, and then something viscous drips down his eyelash and he blinks, trying to clear it. He realizes it's blood.

He hears screaming, but can't tell where it's coming from, and then hears somebody yelling… at Hinata? Yelling at him to get back…

Suddenly, he feels hands gripping his arms, and then it's Hinata's face, swimming into view.

"Tobio!" he gasps, before looking away to shout, "Get the _fucking set medic_ , where—"

"Hinata," Kageyama says, because he can hear how scared Hinata sounds. Then he realizes how tired he feels, which starts to scare him, too. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Hinata says. "I don't know but you're gonna be fine."

"Mnnn," Kageyama murmurs. Hinata's voice makes him feel much less worried, and he really is very tired. His eyes begin to slip closed.

"Hey," Hinata says, voice urgent. "Can you keep your eyes open? Just hold on 'til the—"

"Don't want to…" Kageyama tells him.

"Don't—" Hinata begins to say, but Kageyama doesn't hear anymore.

When he wakes up, he's surprised to find he's at home. It's dark, and he's in bed. Groggily, he stirs under the blankets.

"Hey—Tobio?" he hears someone say, and he looks toward its source, just as one of the dim lamps is clicked on.

Hinata is standing at the doorway, wearing one of his shirts. More accurately, he's practically swimming in it—it hangs too wide off his neck and shoulder, drapes down to his thighs. He must have not expected to stay the night. He can't wear Kageyama's pants, because they drag over his feet, and he always trips. So he's not wearing any bottoms, at all.

Kageyama shuts his eyes for a moment. There's no way, otherwise, that Hinata won't notice where his stare drags, over his pale legs and right between his thighs, high up where the hem of the shirt stops.

"Hinata?" he says, voice thick. He clears it a couple of times. "I'm—my head hurts."

Hinata "tsk"-s, clicking his tongue, and comes over to sit beside him on the bed. He reaches out and smoothes Kageyama's hair back from his forehead, with an uncharacteristic gentleness. His fingers catch on a weird obtrusion, that blunts the otherwise pleasant sensation of his touch on Kageyama's skin. Kageyama reaches up himself and feels a bandage. Everything comes rushing back to him.

"Ugh," he says, "what the _hell_ happened?"

"I got Randolph fucking fired, that's what," Hinata says, fingers still combing through his hair. It's rare that he curses, and the harsh tone of his voice is at odds with his soothing touch.

Kageyama blinks up at him. "You _what?_ How?" Randolph is—was?—their asshole director.

"That—freaking explosion was planned," Hinata says, and he looks _pissed._ "He rigged it to go off as you went by to create an ‘authentic reaction', but of course it malfunctioned. The studio and SAG weren't thrilled, considering you could have been _seriously injured."_

Kageyama shakes his head. "Do I get to seriously injure _him_ or is he just—gone, now?"

"Bags already packed. They're searching for a replacement while you recover," Hinata says. Then, in a rush, "I almost killed him myself. I still—if I _ever_ see him again, I'll—"

Kageyama realizes Hinata's fingers are trembling, as they continue to robotically stroke through his hair.

"Shouyou," he says quietly, reaching up to grip Hinata's hand. Slowly, he pulls it away, murmuring Hinata's name again, and Hinata crawls under the covers without another word, limbs threading all through Kageyama's own, head nestled under his chin. "I'm fine," Kageyama tells him.

"You could have been super _not_ fine," Hinata mumbles. "You just, like, collapsed, and then when I ran over, there was all this _blood_ on your face, and your eyes were all unfocused and then you just _blacked out_ while talking to me, and I thought—"

"I am _fine_ ," Kageyama says again, firmly. "Bit of a headache, currently, but that's it. Look, they didn't even have to take me to the hospital."

"Yeah, but I didn't know that until they _told_ me," Hinata says. In his softest voice, he whispers, "I was really scared."

Kageyama wraps him up closer. He wonders what would happen if he kissed Hinata now, pressed his lips to the distressed little wrinkles between his eyebrows. Kissed his cheeks, his nose. Tilted his chin up with his finger and slid their mouths together. He's done it so many times. He knows exactly what it feels like.

"Go to sleep," he says, while doing none of these things.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Hinata tells him, his voice earnest and honest, and Kageyama shuts his eyes again, squeezes them tightly closed, because he wants so badly to be honest, too.

But he doesn't know what will happen, if he tries.


	5. Chapter 5

**[Prostitution [19]](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11913762)**   **/** [ **Pet Play [20]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11923311)

Hinata sneaks onto set as inconspicuously as possible. He wants this to be a surprise, has managed to keep it one so far, thanks to a monumental amount of effort on his part, as well as Yachi and Suga's. He didn't have any scenes to shoot today—he's currently playing more of a supporting role in this film, Kageyama's love interest. He loves the script and the part, though, playing the much less sexually secure counterpart to Kageyama's "sexpert" (as Hinata calls him) character, a working prostitute.

As it so happens, however, today is December twenty-second. And though they are planning on celebrating it that evening, there's no way Hinata would miss most of his best friend's birthday, just because he's not on call.

And, more than that, he has gotten Kageyama the best birthday present _ever_.

He's lurking near the very back corners of the set, watching the scene in progress. Kageyama has, admittedly, become pretty comfortable being naked in front of a whole lot of people, but he's really taking it to the next level in this film. Not wholly surprising, given the subject matter, but Hinata still has to suppress a smile as he watches Kageyama stride confidently across the set wearing nothing more than the skin he was born in. He has no reason to be unconfident, obviously—there are probably few people in the world who look as good as he does naked.

Hinata bites down on his lip. It's his _birthday suit._ Definitely, he will have to tell that joke to Kageyama later.

He's so lost in the scene, and in staring at Kageyama, that he forgets himself a little bit, hugs his arms—and the birthday present—to his chest a bit too tightly.

And the birthday present _barks._

Everything grinds to a halt. Hinata hears their director ask, rather irately, "What was—was that a _dog?"_

Hinata shrinks in on himself, and Kageyama looks around the room, and spots him nearly instantly.

"Hinata?" he calls. "What are you doing here? And what's—"

The birthday present barks again, and Hinata groans. So much for the surprise.

"Um…" he says, with a nervous grin. He shuffles forward, and nervously holds out the little bundle in his arms—a tiny, tiny gray Siberian Husky puppy. "Happy birthday?"

Kageyama freezes, staring at it. Before Hinata can get out another word of explanation, Kageyama basically sprints toward them—bare feet slapping on the ground, not an ounce of his usual reserved air about him as he skids to a stop in front of Hinata.

"You got—me a—" Kageyama stammers. The puppy barks at him and he looks terrified.

"It's a she," Hinata tells him, "and that means she wants you to hold her." He looks down at the puppy. "Or she has to pee. I'm not quite sure which, yet, but at least I can narrow it down, now."

Kageyama holds out his hands, very tentatively, and Hinata plops the puppy right into them. She looks even smaller when Kageyama holds her, and he raises her up to his face to get a closer look—and then suddenly she's barking, going crazy, licking his face and nose and chin while he scrunches his eyes shut and rides it out.

"She won't stop," he finally mumbles, lips pursed so her tongue can't explore further.

"That's because she likes you!" Hinata tells him, beaming.

Kageyama squints an eye open at him. Gingerly, he holds the puppy slightly away from his face. She strains forward, tongue lolling happily. "What's…"

"She doesn't have a name yet," Hinata says. "I wanted you to name her."

Kageyama looks over at him and then reaches out, yanking him forward a bit roughly. Hinata yelps, and then laughs, as he finds himself pressed tightly against Kageyama's chest in a one-armed hug, the puppy safely secured by the taller man's other arm.

"Grey," Kageyama says. He has his head turned so Hinata can't quite see his face, but there is a telltale roughness in his voice.

Hinata blinks up at him. "Yeah?"

Kageyama nods. "Is that lame?"

Hinata looks at the puppy, who gives him a big, wide, puppy grin before squirming so much Kageyama almost drops her. Hinata scratches her head until she calms down.

"It's kinda lame, but it's okay," he concedes.

"You were supposed to say no," Kageyama tells him. "This is… I'm…" Overwhelmed, probably. Hinata takes pity on him.

"I'm glad you like her," he says. "Think of it as… a birthday gift, and a thank you present."

"A thank you?" Kageyama ask.

"Yeah, thanks for… all the sexual favors," Hinata says. Kageyama chokes on nothing and Hinata laughs. "On camera. Thanks for the past few years."

Kageyama shakes his head, and very contentedly hugs Grey.

"Oy, _baka_ , give her to me," Hinata says, and when Kageyama looks resistant: "You're naked and in the middle of filming."

Kageyama jerks in surprise. "Well, whose fault is that!"

"No idea," Hinata jokes. "Give me our dog."

"I thought she was _my_ present," Kageyama says, handing her over anyway. She wriggles in Hinata's arms and bites his chin.

"Yeah, but _I_ bought her," Hinata reminds him. "Go! Stop corrupting her with all your nakedness!"

He watches Kageyama apologetically hurry back, and spends the rest of the day sitting on the sidelines, raising Grey's little paws in the air to wave at Kageyama and try to make him laugh.

* * *

[ **Branding [27]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12041616)

"Okay, I think it's recording…" Suga's voice says, from somewhere behind the camera.

"Is the red light blinking?" Kageyama asks. The camera pans over to him to reveal he's shirtless, standing looking at Suga and the camera, arms crossed and expectant. Hinata stands next to him, also shirtless, and seemingly vibrating with the type of unique energy he has that has become familiar to the entire world at this point.

"Yeah, it's…" Suga starts to say, before Hinata raises both arms into the air and yells out a strange sort of battle cry.

"WE'RE GETTING TATTOOS!" he shouts, and Kageyama sighs.

Yachi walks briefly into camera view before realizing she's stepped into frame and quickly skitters out of it like a spooked baby deer.

"So, for the record," Suga's voice says, amusedly, "I did at some point say this wasn't the best idea, but was overridden fairly enthusiastically."

"I've said nothing in favor of or against this idea," Kageyama says.

"Yes, I wasn't referring to you."

Hinata vibrates around to face Kageyama. "You said you'd do it with me!" he yelps, pointing his finger straight at Kageyama's nose. Kageyama blinks down at him. "You promised!"

"I didn't say I'm not going to," Kageyama says, brows pinching into a frown. "This was all your idea, though, and I'm quite sure you're going to regret it."

"I'm not," Hinata insists staunchly. "It's a great idea, and you liked it, and it's going to be awesome when it's done."

"Why don't you tell everyone what you guys have decided to do?" comes Yachi's placating voice.

"Okay!" Hinata agrees immediately, irritation apparently forgotten. Yachi's hand slides into frame and Hinata takes two pieces of paper from her, flourishing them in front of the camera.

On each is one handprint—one big, and one small.

The film they have recently wrapped shooting is a fantasy action-adventure, sexy and more than a little comedic. Their characters in the films end up with accidental magical tattoos thanks to a spell that gets slightly out of hand, and so…

"In honor of our newest film, out in theaters November…" Hinata pauses.

"Sixteenth," Kageyama says.

"November sixteenth!" Hinata nods, before continuing excitedly. "And in honor of our deep and meaningful bond—" Kageyama snorts and Hinata elbows him hard in the side. "—we're getting our tattoos from the film!" He smacks the paper with the smaller handprint against Kageyama's chest and happily clutches the bigger handprint to his own. "We even traced our handprints!"

"Are you sure you're going to be alright for this?" Kageyama asks him, looking at him with fond amusement. "You hate needles."

"I'll be fine!" Hinata tells him.

Suga turns the camera around to look into it, stare deadpan.

The video cuts to Kageyama laying back in the tattoo chair, the tattoo artist working over the stencil of Hinata's handprint. He winces a bit, but otherwise looks completely calm.

The camera pans over to where Hinata is standing, huddled with Yachi, both of them covering their faces. Hinata peeks through his fingers for a brief moment and then squeals, going back into hiding against Yachi's shoulder.

Suga turns the camera around to look into it, again, stare even more deadpan.

Another cut in the video, and Kageyama is done, sitting up with the bold, black print on his chest, red around the edges. It's not a perfect outline, more like an impression made from a hand dipped in paint and pressed briefly to his skin.

"Uwaaah," Hinata breathes, poking his face up to Kageyama's chest and blocking the view of the camera. "It's cool!"

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Kageyama says, "especially after you made me go first." Hinata reaches his hand out, eyes wide, and Kageyama smacks it away. "Don't touch it yet, _boke_!"

Hinata turns back toward the camera, hovering his hand near it, to demonstrate the near identical size and shape, proving it's his own. He gives the camera a thumbs up.

The very next shot is Hinata sitting in the chair with the tattoo artist working on the back of his neck, tracing Kageyama's large handprint onto his skin. Hinata has his eyes squeezed shut tight, teeth biting hard into his bottom lip.

"Hinata…" Kageyama says.

"M' _fine_ ," Hinata grates out.

Kageyama delivers a very pronounced eyeroll, before he pulls up a chair next to Hinata and flicks his hand out, nudging Hinata's fingers with his own. Hinata's shoulders hunch. Then he slides his fingers between Kageyama's and white knuckles his hand in a death grip.

Kageyama can barely hide his smile. "It hurts, huh? Dumbass."

Hinata gives a tiny nod. "Yeah, but it's gonna look cool, though."

"Uh-huh."

When they're both finally all done, Hinata, eyes a bit puffy, stands with his back to the camera. Kageyama faces the front. Both their tattoos are on proud display.

They do look pretty damn cool.

* * *

[ **Master/Slave [12]** ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11369196)

Following the worldwide release of _Somewhere to Belong,_ after a short break between movies, Kageyama and Hinata shoot a small budget period piece about love, expectations, and goats.

The little goat in question gets along phenomenally well with Grey even though it's half the Husky's size, and Hinata has made arrangements to adopt it before they're even halfway through filming.

They're on set to shoot one of the pivotal scenes of the film when there's a loud commotion, and Suga races on set, Yachi right behind him.

"The nominees!" Suga pants, winded. "The nominees for this year's films are in!"

Hinata yelps and covers his mouth with his hands, and Kageyama sucks in a breath. "Did _Somewhere to Belong—_ "

"Best Picture!" Suga says, gleefully.

Yachi seems to be unable to contain herself any longer, and she shouts, shrilly, "You're _both nominated_ for Best Actor!"

There's a moment of stunned silence and then the whole room erupts into a celebration, congratulatory cheers showered upon the two young actors. Suga dances around in a circle, hugs Kageyama and Hinata both, before turning to try and calm down Yachi, who is bawling out her happiness.

"I'm so—proud—" she sobs into his chest. He pats her head. "I used to worry—he was going to get— _deported—"_

"I know the feeling," Suga commiserates.

"Wait… what—" Hinata starts to ask, but then someone grabs his arm and he turns to see Kageyama looking at him. "Hi!" Hinata says brightly.

Kageyama is openly smiling, and Hinata is already pressing into his arms as Kageyama hugs him tightly, and Hinata cries then, too.

Because it suddenly seems like less than a week ago that he met this frowning, lanky boy on set, thinking they'd never get along only to be proven wrong almost instantly, watched almost through someone else's eyes as they made a life for themselves doing what they loved, together. The entire way, they've done this together.

Kageyama pulls back to look at him, his own eyes wet even as he brushes Hinata's tears of joy gently away. He bends down, hesitantly, and Hinata's heart stutters in his chest.

Kageyama kisses his forehead, softly, and then brings one hand up to Hinata's cup Hinata's cheek, and Hinata closes his eyes as Kageyama presses his lips to the other side of his face. That kiss lingers, long and sweet, and Hinata sighs when he pulls away. He drops his forehead to Hinata's.

"Thank you," Kageyama whispers.

 _I love you,_ Hinata thinks.

"Whatever you're thinking," Kageyama says, "me, too."

"You sure?" Hinata asks, grinning.

"Yeah."

"Tobio smells like eggs."

Kageyama gives him a look. "You were not thinking that."

Hinata giggles and then shrieks when Kageyama picks him up and carries him bodily back on set.

"Let's shoot this so we can all go out to celebrate," Kageyama calls out, dumping Hinata down onto the bed. "Drinks on us!" The crew cheers.

Any crew member on set that day can recall that they only needed to do one take for that scene. It's a sex scene, but more importantly, it's a love scene.

When they call cut, the two of them are still looking at each other like they are the only ones in the room and the only things that matter in the world.

It will be clear to anyone watching how they feel about one another.

* * *

**The 109th Academy Awards**

"Tobio, I'm so… so in love with you. It's so easy to act like I love you, when I already do."

The words ring out over a stunned, silent hall.

Hinata balls his hands into fists, squeezed to his chest, which is painfully tight. He feels like he may have stopped breathing. This is the scariest thing he's ever done, more than any audition or stage performance or public appearance.

Announcing his feelings with the whole world watching, so that there's no way it can be misinterpreted, or brushed off, or ignored. So that it's out there, once and for all. Because he's committed to it, for better, or worse. The truth about how he feels.

Hands grab onto his shoulders and he stiffens, recognizing the weight of them, the rough grip. They spin him around, and then he has no choice, but to look straight into Kageyama's blue eyes and oh, boy, he can already feel himself drowning. He gasps for air, but it's not enough.

"I…" he starts to say, without having any idea what his next line should be. What does he say?

"Are you serious?" Kageyama asks, and Hinata flinches.

But he still nods. "Yes."

"You little…" Kageyama breathes, and then he's grabbing Hinata's face in his hands, a bit too hard. "Why do you always have to be the one stealing all the spotlight?"

And he kisses him.

Hinata's whole body goes rigid with shock. Kageyama doesn't like public displays of affection, and outside any private instances caught by paparazzi, it's rare for him to ever be romantic in front of other people for any reason, unless he's filming a scene. And by definition, that can't be quite considered romantic. It's just his job.

And yet.

Kageyama has his face clasped tight, fingers splayed across his cheeks, thumbs brushing his cheekbones—his hands are shaking.

He kisses Hinata with a fervor Hinata can only remember experiencing a few times in his life, never with anyone else, always from him—and maybe those times were for a camera, but this time is not, not even with every camera pointed directly, straight at them. Dimly, Hinata realizes they have not started playing the "get the hell offstage" music, though their time has long since been up. The producers recognize ratings when they see them.

Hinata recognizes a chance to shout to the world: this man is (has always been, will always be) _mine._ And so he takes it.

He throws his arms around Kageyama and kisses him back.

They get, bar none, the _wildest_ applause of the entire evening. And then some.

They have obligations after the show is over, photos must be taken, of course, during which Kageyama's hand rests on the small of Hinata's back the entire time, and sometimes… a little lower.

There are a few red carpet interviews, focusing minimally on their unanticipated snub ("Not a snub," Hinata says, and means it), and mostly on their… announcement.

"No, it wasn't planned," Kageyama says, with a faint smile. "He just felt like he wasn't getting enough attention."

"From you," Hinata mutters, and Kageyama can't even respond, eventually settling for pressing his lips together in a quivery line. The interviewer looks delighted.

This could carry on for ages, and ages, and Hinata spends the first hour trying to think of a way for them to delicately bail on the biggest night of the year.

Kageyama doesn't do delicate. He leans over while they're taking yet another picture and says into Hinata's ear:

"I need to get you home, right now."

Hinata's stunned and very red face is memorialized in a photo that will run the next day in the New York Times.

Kageyama simply lets everyone know they're leaving, and then he just... leaves, with Hinata in tow. And then of course, when they're both seated in the back of the car that will take them back, he continues to act _startlingly_ like himself, eased against the window, staring pensively out of it, casually, blindingly attractive, as he always is. Hinata stares at him embarrassingly openly.

"Yes?" Kageyama asks him.

"Nothing," Hinata says.

Kageyama looks away from the tinted glass to focus on him. He braces a hand against the seat and tilts forward, and Hinata leans into him, so close he could kiss him—

"You can't even wait until we're alone?" Kageyama murmurs, a smirk in his voice.

Hinata glares. "We practically are!"

"Spare a thought for poor Patrick," Kageyama says. "You got your kiss. Now it's my turn."

Hinata tilts his head. "Your turn for what?"

A sly smile creeps over Kageyama's face, tiny and maddening. Hinata wants to punch him. He wants to kiss him again.

"You'll see," Kageyama says.

The house lights are still turned on at Kageyama's when they return—not entirely by coincidence, so is Hinata. He feels too warm in his suit, too restricted by all the tailored fabric and buttons, his thoughts jumping around too fast as he thinks about what Kageyama means, what he has in mind.

But Kageyama doesn't say anything, not even when they get inside, not as they climb the stairs to the second story, not even as they go upstairs and into (Hinata gulps) the bedroom.

Kageyama walks around the room and draws all the curtains shut, making sure each window is completely, utterly obscured.

"What are you… doing?" Hinata asks.

"Do you have any idea," Kageyama says, twitching the corner end of the curtains at one of the windows, "how many people are camped out around this house with their cameras, trying to look inside this room right now? After what just happened?"

Hinata realizes what he's implying, and flushes. "Oh… right…" Does that mean…

Kageyama turns to face him. "They've _seen_ you. They all fantasize about you. I've shared you with them for years, I've never just... _had you,_ all to myself." He's watching Hinata, eyes fixed on him as he loosens his tie and slides it from his neck, slowly. _"Not tonight."_

 _Oh, my god,_ Hinata thinks, whispers in awe, "Fuck, Tobio…"

"That's the plan," Kageyama informs him, striding forward to grab him and kiss him again.

Hinata has kissed Kageyama's lips countless times.

He has memorized the feel of them, the occasional roughness in the center when Kageyama has refused lip care products for a little too long. He knows their warmth, and the way they fit against his, the way Kageyama does this _thing,_ slides them just a little lower so Hinata's bottom lip is nestled right between the crease in his, and then he presses them together, traps the flesh of Hinata's there, right as he breathes out, like he's suddenly overwhelmed, tugging Hinata closer with insistent hands against the small of his back.

Hinata whimpers, because he _knows_ this kiss. But this is the first time he's known it's all for him. And it doesn't matter the fifty, hundred, thousand times he's kissed Kageyama before. He's never wanted anything, or anyone, more.

"Shit, sorry," Kageyama mumbles against his lips, barely drawing away. "I'm—"

He doesn't even try to finish his sentence. He gives up one word in and wraps his arm around Hinata's waist, drags his other hand up Hinata's back to bury it in his hair, lips pressing hot and open and frantic, and Hinata _gasps_. He's so desperate it's hard to breathe, makes his knees weak even as he curves his back into Kageyama's touch, presses as close to him as he can possibly get, and Kageyama moans into his mouth.

They don't usually make sounds—not often, or really at all. These scenes are usually laid over with some kind of romantic or sexy soundtrack, so they don't have to really think about what they're doing with their voices, and it's usually better to stay on the quiet side.

So in all his years doing this, he's never heard Kageyama make a noise like that. It's so soft and quiet, deep and throaty and intense, focused. And Hinata needs to hear it again.

"Tobio…" he says quietly, sliding his hands up the flat planes of Kageyama's stomach, over his broad chest, to rest on his shoulders.

"How do you want me?" Kageyama asks, instantly, and Hinata's head gets all foggy again, with heat and too many thoughts and _need._

"However," Hinata says, "whatever—I just—I can't believe—"

Kageyama hooks a finger in Hinata's tie and pulls it loose, trailing his fingers lower to start undoing buttons. His lips quirk. "Help."

Hinata immediately jumps to it, fingers fumbling at the buttons of Kageyama's shirt, and they undress each other. For real. It's not coordinated. Nobody is there to make the comment that the shot might look better if Hinata raised his arms for Kageyama to take his shirt off, or suggest moving toward the bed in order to keep the action of the scene flowing.

No one is there to tell them to do anything. No one else is watching. This is all for them.

*

It's almost like an out of body experience, Kageyama thinks. Just being able to watch Hinata without having to think about everything else in the scene, all his character's motivations. He's always had an appreciation for the little things Hinata does while he's acting, but this is something else. Something that's always been present, underneath the surface—more than appreciation. An intense happiness, for all these tiny things, that have taken him a couple years to puzzle out as love. He loves these things.

Hinata _laughs,_ endlessly. This shouldn't be surprising, all things considered. Besides the fact that Kageyama knows Hinata is a chronic laugh machine, they have plenty of scenes that involve plenty of kissing and laughing.

But… sex is different. On-camera, they want Hinata to be alluring, sexy, flirty: a fantasy. And he is, it's easy for him, with his big, expressive eyes and pouting lips. But Kageyama has never truly gotten to witness him off-camera, see what he's like under someone else's hands. Now that he is witnessing it, though, he can say one thing with absolute certainty.

Hinata is beautiful. Of course he is.

He's beautiful when he laughs wide and uninhibited, tickled by Kageyama's touch across his skin, the sounds bubbling up like Kageyama is teasing them out of him, right from his stomach as he presses his fingers in there, grazes them over his sides, and low on his back, just over the soft swell of his ass below his waistband. Hinata's laughter softens as Kageyama's touch does, and soon he's giggling breathlessly, sliding his hands up Kageyama's chest, his neck, into his hair as Kageyama's fingers creep lower, and lower.

Hinata pecks at his mouth with lips shaky from suppressed joy, and Kageyama drags him in close, fingers giving up their slow teasing to splay hot and insistent over his toned, generous curves, and Hinata's laughter flows seamlessly into a warm, smooth moan.

"I want to be inside you," Kageyama tells him, and the thrill of finally getting the words out when Hinata knows he _means them_ is almost painful. Hinata's hands tighten in his hair.

"I want you to be inside me," he replies, still a little coy even though he's entirely out of breath. Kageyama slides his slacks down over his hips so he can grip them firmly, press his fingers into Hinata's flesh.

"For real," Kageyama mutters.

Hinata nods, with a grin he tries to stop from spreading by biting his lip. Kageyama kisses him again so he can't.

"Is there…" Hinata says softly, "anything else you've wanted to do? That you wished was real?"

Kageyama slides his tongue against Hinata's lips, licking slow and thoughtful over the soft skin, before he says, "Yes."

Hinata shivers. "So show me."

Kageyama pulls away and tilts his head, before sinking to his knees. Hinata's eyes widen.

"Oh, that's—" he says, voice pitching into squeaky surprise. "You really knew what you wanted!"

"I have for awhile," Kageyama tells him, and Hinata presses his palm to his mouth, staring down at him, eyes lidded and cheeks colored red.

"Okay," he says.

Kageyama looks up at him. "Okay?" He is really, very much hoping it's okay. Hinata naked, and hard, and irresistibly gorgeous right in front of him is making him intensely impatient.

"Y-yeah," Hinata nods. "But I wanna—do it, soon, so—"

" _'Do it'_ ," Kageyama repeats mockingly, leaning in.

"Kageyama!" Hinata yells, right before he swallows a moan as Kageyama tongues the head of his cock into his mouth.

Kageyama isn't exactly new to this. Neither of them are—they've both had their fair share of partners. Still, the taste of Hinata on his tongue is something of a shock. It's… nicer, he wants to say, than he remembers it being with other people—and though that's probably a side effect of the ultra-healthy lifestyle Hinata lives (not completely by choice), Kageyama likes to think that maybe part of it is just because it's Hinata. Or maybe, because of how long he's wanted this in the first place.

Nicer still is the way Hinata groans when Kageyama takes him in, flattening his tongue under Hinata's cock so he can swallow him as far as possible, knows he's probably already far enough when he hears Hinata whisper, "Oh, god," above him—and then pushes him in just a little further, breathing in through his nose as Hinata slides a hand into his hair.

"Oh, okay," Hinata whimpers. "Yes—yeah, I wanted this, too, I—" He stutters off as Kageyama starts to bob his head, easing Hinata's cock in and out of his mouth, pulling off slow to the tip so he can wrap his tongue around it and suck, hard, and Hinata cries out, hips jutting forward. The sound goes right to Kageyama's dick and he puts a hand down to palm himself through his undone slacks.

With the other, he pulls Hinata forward by the hips, encouraging, and Hinata realizes—eases another hand into his hair and starts to rock his hips, his breath panting out of him in stabbing gasps that would probably be deemed too harsh by a sound technician, but that ring just right in Kageyama's ears, as Hinata holds his head firmly in place by the roots of his hair and fucks into his mouth, thrusts getting faster, sharper. The words he's trying to say, whatever they are, are mumbled and meaningless, except they mean everything, somehow—as he breathes Kageyama's name, begs _please,_ praises _you feel so good._

Kageyama would let him do this, let him finish down his throat if he wanted, has fantasized about drinking him up greedily for years, now, at least. But Hinata pulls away, pushes at him, with great effort.

"Wait," he says, "don't." He groans when Kageyama pulls back, agonizingly slow, licks him on his way off, a string of saliva and precum connecting his lips to the tip of Hinata's cock.

Hinata drops to his knees, too, and kisses it off him, and when he pulls back he looks dazed, dizzy.

"Bed?" Kageyama ask.

"Yeah…" Hinata says. "Yeah, I want you. I need you now."

Kageyama pulls them both back to the bed, and Hinata whines piteously until Kageyama finally pushes off his own pants, leaving them both fully naked. Hinata settles back into the sheets as he fumbles around in the drawer by the bed, tossing lube and a condom onto the pillow. When he looks back, Hinata has picked up the condom, looking thoughtful.

"Do we need this?" he asks.

Kageyama looks at him. "I… huh?"

Hinata picks at the sheets with his fingers. "I… don't want to use one."

Kageyama feels like he's been kicked in the chest. "We—we don't have to, if you're—I mean, I know you're—" He knows it's _safe_ between the two of them, he'd just also assumed Hinata would feel more comfortable if…

"I want to feel all of you," Hinata says. "I've wanted it for so long, I wanna feel when you—"

Kageyama shoves him down into the pillows, mouth finding Hinata's again, threading their fingers together. Hinata's kisses are a little timid, now.

"I want to give you what you need," Kageyama murmurs.

Hinata shivers and stares up at him, eyes wide, before he lets his legs fall open, spread wide, whole body flushing pink with his nerves and arousal.

Kageyama is desperate to satisfy him.

*

Having Kageyama in him— _actually_ in him—is a whole other thing.

Hinata has fucked and been fucked before. He's no stranger to toys and fingering himself and getting off in any number of ways. He's confident in bed, he likes sex, probably loves it, if he's being honest.

Kageyama touches him, presses into him, and he feels like it's his first time, he comes apart at the seams.

"Is it too much?" Kageyama asks him, with three fingers buried in him, his other hand on Hinata's thigh for reassurance as much as to keep him spread. His hand is warm, and his fingers are long, and Hinata hasn't been able to speak since the first one entered him.

He shakes his head as best as he's able and then, in what is probably a more telling response than that, grinds his hips down lower on Kageyama's fingers, head tipped back, mouth open as he pants and moans and writhes. He's still struggling to comprehend it. Kageyama is _in_ him, Kageyama wants him, Kageyama feels so, unbelievably good and it's just his fingers.

Kageyama leans down to kiss his slack mouth, his cheek, breathes, "God, you look so good."

Hinata manages a huff of a laugh. "You've seen me like this plenty of times."

"No," Kageyama says. "I've seen how they _want_ you to look." He tilts his head, licks the dripping sweat off Hinata's jaw, grazes his teeth there. "This is so much better."

His fingers curl, and Hinata lifts his hips with the motion, crying out a sob. "Tobio!"

"Hmm?" Kageyama's voice is just a low, throbbing heat.

"I'm ready—" Hinata says, basically pleads. "I'm ready, let me have you—"

Kageyama pulls his fingers out, pulling himself higher to cage Hinata in with his arms, looking down at him. "Is like this okay?"

Hinata reaches up to hold his face, expression melting into a smile. "Yeah," he says, with a little laugh. "We can… try all the other ways later."

Kageyama ducks down to kiss him. "Good idea."

"Best idea," Hinata whispers. In the next instant, he gasps, softly, as Kageyama presses the head of his cock against his entrance, the heat of it stunning. Hinata knows he's on the bigger side, has had quite a long time to determine this information himself, but it's still somehow a shock, as Kageyama holds himself in place, and begins to slowly push inside him.

"Tell me—" he starts to say.

"I'm okay!" Hinata says instantly. "I'm okay, just—Tobio, I'm yours, come on—just take me—"

Kageyama lets out a heavy, short exhale at his words. "Fuck."

He drives home, all the way, uses one hand to lift Hinata's thigh, raising it, sliding over his skin, pulling it securely around his waist. Kageyama is so warm, and it's familiar, this weight and presence above him—but it's _hot_ inside Hinata, now, and full, and it's Kageyama, filling him—Hinata moans.

Kageyama presses his lips to his cheek. "You're okay?"

"Y-yeah, good," Hinata mumbles, eyes closed tight. _"Tobio—_ "

"I know," Kageyama says. He kisses Hinata's cheek and his eyelids. "I know. Shouyou, I'm gonna move."

"Yeah, I'm good— _aanh—_ " Hinata breathes out, as Kageyama draws back out of him in one slow slide, before rocking his hips back, fits them together tightly, gliding smoothly to bury himself to the hilt. "Oh, _oh—"_

Kageyama lets him cling, takes it slow, eases their bodies into motion. Hinata can feel his muscles working, hear the effort in his breathing, his quiet groans as the length of his cock drags against the snug walls of Hinata's body, the tip catching once as he pulls too far back, slips out a little, and Hinata clenches the tiniest bit, feeling the tease at his rim before Kageyama thrusts back in.

"Faster—" Hinata pants.

Kageyama puts a hand against his cheek, brushes his thumb over Hinata's lips. "You gonna help me, then?"

Hinata focuses a glare at him with great difficulty, before he arches his spine to roll his hips over Kageyama's cock, fingers twisting in Kageyama's hair before dragging down his back, digging hard into Kageyama's flesh. Kageyama growls at him, such a rough sound it makes Hinata tremble.

 _"Fuck,_ that's good—that's so good, Shouyou—"

His next thrust is a straight shot, hard and punishing, as he starts to rock into him, presses deep, then grinds his hips against Hinata's ass.

"Right th—!" Hinata gasps, as Kageyama's cock slides hard against his prostate, and the rush of pleasure that shoots through him makes his whole body heave in shock.

"Shit," Kageyama swears. He slides a hand down Hinata's chest, finds his cock, starts to pump him in time with his thrusts. His hand is firm and tight around Hinata's cock, a little rough, more than perfect, and Hinata knows this is about all he can take.

I'm—" It's embarrassing, how fast this is going to be, but Hinata doesn't care, not right now. In some sense, it's taken years, so maybe there was no way he was ever going to last the first time Kageyama ever really touched him. It's too much, it's too _good._  

"Fuck, Hinata—" Kageyama moans. "Hinata, I've wanted to make you come for so long—I just wanted it to be _me,_ just _one time—"_

Hinata grabs the back of his head and forces it down, because there's nothing he can think of to say to that—except to sob Kageyama's name as he kisses him and burns through an unrelenting, gut-clenching orgasm, tears springing at the corner of his eyes, tongue inside Kageyama's mouth, wet and hot and more than a little filthy as he spills all over his stomach and Kageyama's fingers.

"There," he chokes out, fiercely, right up against Kageyama's warm, kiss-swollen lips. "And it better be more than one time—Tobio, god, come in me, I've thought about it for so long—"

Kageyama bites his lip before his eyes roll back and slide shut, mouth falling open as he moans, sounds so good Hinata gets hot all over again, clenching around him. He drops his forehead to Hinata's shoulder as he shudders against him, hips rolling unevenly—and Hinata holds him _tight_ as Kageyama fills him up, spills in him. He presses his face into Kageyama's shoulder.

As both of their breaths finally slow, Hinata murmurs, "Aaaand… scene."

Kageyama picks his head up and looks at him with an inscrutable expression, and he starts giggling uncontrollably.

"It's like, every time a thought comes into your head, you've just got to—" Kageyama says.

"I _have_ to," Hinata agrees. "It's who I am."

"Unfortunately," Kageyama sighs. He presses his lips to Hinata's again, softly. "I love who you are." He frowns, and then amends it to. "I love you."

"I know," Hinata says, laughs out loud, and then wraps him up in an enormous hug before Kageyama can call him out on it.

Tonight marks the first time they've said the words to each other with all the meaning and implication the many, many times before haven't _quite_ held. Though if they think back on it, that's probably not entirely true. After all, there's always a part of them that shines through on screen, no matter what role they're playing.

This part, though—this has probably always been the brightest. It's just wasn't as easy to see, with the spotlight in their eyes.

But everyone did always say they have great chemistry.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here's a little epilogue I wrote for this story...](http://esselley.tumblr.com/post/152835625999/thank-you-for-the-best-october-so-far-im-gonna) :)
> 
> Wanted to drop a quick reminder (for anyone following Thirst especially) that I'll be out of the country for the next week and won't be posting anything 'til I'm back! 
> 
> But when I return... **KINKTOBER 2017 IS KICKING OFF!** Thank you all so much for following the 2016 haul, and I hope this year will be just as fun and freaky as the last :) See you guys soon!  <333
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


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